Sunrise
by HHRShipper
Summary: A fluffy tale of new beginnings and new adventures for souls whose fates are intertwined with one another. Rated T for dangerous amounts of fluffiness. ABANDONED
1. Prologue I: Naruto's Beginnings

A/N: This is my first story, but I am hitting the ground running. I can tell you that this will be a long story filled with some action, lots of fluffy goodness, and more deep meanings to the title than you can shake a stick at proceeds to shake stick until arm to tired to move. I can tell you now, this will be a naruhina story, so if you don't like it, tough, but you may still like the first chapter. As you may or may not notice, in this chapter, the word naruto is not used at all, as the prologue deals with his parents. So, even if you don't like the naruhina pairing , read the first chapter for a nice fluffy highlight of Naruto's parents. That being said, the rest of the pairings, and there will be more, will be my secret for the moment because otherwise they will give away some of the plot twists I have planned. Unreasoned flames are discouraged. If you didn't like something because of the plot, I'll ignore it, so don't waste your time or my time. If there is something in my writing style, tell me and I will try to fix it. That's it. Enjoy the beginning of Sunrise.

Disclaimer: Though I have wished so many times that I did, alas, I do not own the rights to Naruto.

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**Prologue**

Within the Land of Fire, in the ninja village of Konohagakure, a man and a woman sat atop a very special and recognizable rock face. On this rock face, skilled artisans had crafted into the rock stone sculptures, each made to portray the face of one of Konoha's former and present Hokages, the leaders and strongest ninja of the village. Currently there were four faces carved into the rock; three were for previous Hokages, and one was for the present Hokage, the Yondaime Hokage, the fourth leader of Konoha.

The woman was very beautiful with brown hair and emerald green eyes. Wearing a gorgeous and obviously expensive white kimono, she could easily have passed for an angel at first glance. On her head was a hiatea with a spiral engraved in it, the spiral a symbol of her native village of the whirlpool village, Uzumaki. She had come to Konoha after the disbandment of her native village due to a declining population and economy, and had stayed after meeting the man she loved. Though she had something of a disruptive and outgoing personality, having performed many pranks on friends, family, and teachers during her younger years, she now sat on the mountain with a calm serenity about her, staring into the eyes of that man whose love had made her stay in the village without any friends or family from her native village.

Staring back at her was a man with bright blonde hair and eyes so blue they would make the sky envious of their color. He was wearing ceremonial ninja robes along with a long white coat with flames on the bottom, symbolic of the nation that he protects along with the rest of the ninja in the village. He too wore a hiatae on his forehead, though being a native of Konoha, his bore the symbol of a leaf. Though not quite as wild as the woman he loves, he had always been known to have boundless energy and stamina that is second to none. This helped him to maximize his ninja training and allowed him to become powerful faster than any of his colleagues or friends. He became so powerful so quickly that despite his relatively young age, he was named the successor to the Sandaime Hokage, and after his predecessor's retirement, he took up the mantle to become the Yondaime Hokage.

They were Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, the Hokage and his wife, and they were deeply in love with one another, yet they each felt somewhat incomplete. There was something missing in the relationship. They needed something that would make their family whole. They needed a child, but that was something they had yet to do. This, as the Hokage had just found out, was about to change.

Now there are some things that people never expect to see. They never expect to see a pig fly, or to see a fish survive out of water. They never expect a dog to start talking in a human language or to see a tree lift up its roots and move somewhere else. In Konoha, the villagers never expected their Hokage to do anything unexpected of a leader of a powerful ninja village, but as was soon to become evident about this particular family, they need to learn to expect the unexpected, and they needed to start immediately because many people in the village saw the Hokage do something they'd never expect him to do when he heard the news of his wife's pregnancy.

He fainted.

Ten minutes later when he came to, his wife was staring right at him, confused and nervous about his reaction, though obviously somewhat amused by the unusual behavior of her husband. Deciding the direct approach was the best way to alleviate any doubts about her husband's feelings on the matter, she decided to talk to him about it.

"Minato-kun are you ok?"

Minato looked up at his wife and saw the nervous and anxious look in her face, but being somewhat cloudy on what happened before he passed out, he assumed she was concerned about him fainting.

"Of course I am, my dear. I guess I must've hit my head or something and passed out," he replied, rubbing the bump on his head. What he didn't realize was that he had actually gotten that bump as a result of his falling backwards when he fainted.

Kushina looked at her husband questioningly, wondering if he truly didn't remember why he had fainted. "Do you not remember why you fainted?"

"No, everything before I fainted is a bit woozy, though I do remember talking to you."

"Do you remember what we were talking about?"

"We were talking about us, how we met, how we fell in love, and things of that nature."

"Then what?"

"Well, we were talking about our current relationship and how both of us felt that something was missing."

"Do you remember what that something was?" Kushina asked expectantly.

Minato thought for a moment before replying, "You said that we needed something to make our family whole. You said what we were both feeling was that we needed a child, so that we would truly have a family."

"And what was your response?"

"I agreed with you and said we should start planning for having a kid. I also said that I hoped we wouldn't have to wait too long before it finally happened. Then you said that we wouldn't have to."

"And do you remember why I said we wouldn't have to wait?" Kushina asked, growing more nervous by the second.

"Well, that was because…" Minato trailed off as realization finally hit him, and it hit him hard. "Y-You're, you're…"

"I'm pregnant," Kushina finished, the nervousness on her face so obvious it was near palpable.

Seeing the nervous look on his wife's face, even the normally love-dense Minato could tell what was on her mind and what she had been so worried about when he woke up. Not wanting her to worry about anything, he figured fainting again probably wasn't the best idea, so he kept his composure as calm as he could, and put on a brave face for his wife.

"Honey, you don't need to be nervous about this. I already told you I wanted to have a kid, I just didn't think it would happen this soon, that's all. I'm happy about this, I really am."

"You really aren't upset about this? You're sure this is what you want? I mean, I could always have an ab…" Kushina started, tearing at the thought of giving up this child.

"No!" shouted Minato in a voice more stern and aggressive sounding than he had intended, evident by the fact that his wife backed up a bit when he said it. "No, I don't want you to give up this child. This is our child, and I want it too. I want to become a father and teach my son all the lessons that a father gets to teach his son. I want to be there for him and watch him grow up and become the man that he can be. This is our child, Kushina-chan, yours and mine, so don't even think about taking that away," Minato said in a much calmer voice.

"You do realize that it could very well be a daughter, don't you?"

"Oh Kami, I hope not," answered Minato, starting to worry about the thought of having a daughter instead of a son.

Kushina laughed at her husband's antics. Hearing her laugh was enough to calm down Minato as he went back to string into her eyes.

'No matter how many times I look into those eyes, they're always the most beautiful things I've ever seen,' thought Minato.

His wife was having similar thoughts.

"So we're really going to do this? We're really going to star our family?" Kushina asked, just wanting a little more confirmation from her husband.

"Yes, Kushina-chan, we're really going to and I couldn't be happier about it," he replied, appeasing all of her nerves, and in a way of sealing the discussion, he leaned over and kissed his wife on the lips.

Right as the two sets of lips touched, a ray of light shot up from the side of them. Looking over to see what the source of this light was, the two spouses saw the first rays of sunlight peaking over the horizon.

Somewhat taken aback by the beauty of the sunlight as the rays cast a yellow glow on the village, Kushina could only stare and utter one word that captivated the whole experience.

"Beautiful…"

Meanwhile, her husband was paying the sight little to no attention as his gaze was still on his wife, her body appearing to him to be even more beautiful if that was even possible.

"Yes, you are."

Kushina smiled back at her husband's corny compliment with a look that could warm even the coldest of hearts, a look that sent shivers down her husband's spine.

"With the sun coming up, I suppose I need to get to work. I do have a village to protect after all."

"Can't you stay with me just a little bit longer?" Kushina pleaded with him.

"I suppose my desk can wait for me for a bit, and Kami knows I'll always welcome a break from that paper work," he responded with a look of pure contentment on his face.

So the two sat together, not speaking a word to each other for the next half an hour. They just enjoyed each other's company and enjoyed the view of the sunrise.


	2. Prologue II: Hinata's Beginnings

A/N: I know you were expecting to find the first chapter of the real story after that prologue about Naruto's parents, well...  
Think Again! This is a second prologue, and I will tell you right now, there will probably be a third. The first three chapters are all prologues and are an arc in my story that deals with events before Naruto's birth, but be forewarned: there will be elements of these chapters that will come back as recurring themes, so don't dismiss them as idle fluff, though they are certainly fluffy ;). Without any further ado, I give you Prologue II, Hinata's Beginnings

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own some Ramen, which I will be enjoying eating later.

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Prologue II: Hinata's Beginnings

Two months later…

Inside the Hyuga complex, the clan head and his wife discuss the future of the clan.

"Hiashi-kun, why must that seal remain in use? You know it is just causing a divide between the main and branch family," asked Hotokegi Hyuga in her naturally soft and caring voice.

"Hoto-chan, we've been over this before. What would happen if a branch member were to die in the battlefield? The secrets of our Byakugan would be up for grabs to anyone, even our enemies. We cannot let this happen."

"But wouldn't the same thing happen if a main family member died in battle?"

"That would never happen! The main family is too strong for any of its members to die in battle where enemies can get to them!" yelled Hiashi, somewhat angry that his wife would imply that any main house member could possibly suffer that fate.

"How can you know that? There are always risks when ninjas go on missions. Anything can happen. There are some things even our Byakugan eyes cannot see, and there is a blind spot, as you well know."

"Shhh! We do not speak of that weakness, less the knowledge fall into enemy hands."

"But you have to admit, there are still certain risks involved with being a ninja. You never know what might happen out in the real world, away from family and clansmen."

"Very true, but this only speaks for the necessity of a seal on our weaker members."

"Not all of the branch members are weak. Your twin brother is certainly not weak, and I have no doubt that his new son, our nephew, Neji will be as strong as he is, if not stronger. So why do they need this seal? Clearly it is not for the protection of our kekkei-genkai."

"…"

"Plus there is the other aspect of the caged-bird seal. The part that allows main family members to hurt or even kill branch members if they want to."

"Please! You speak as if main family members are sadists who would kill their own clansmen for fun."

"Maybe not for fun, but for not doing what the main member wants them to do, perhaps? For speaking out against the use of the seal? For going against the wishes of the main family?"

"We must have a way to keep order. If we did not have that seal, there would be chaos. There would be anarchy. The branch house would revolt against us and in the ensuing feud our numbers would dwindle if not perish."

"You're justifying the use of the seal on a problem caused by the seal. The only reason the branch members would revolt is out of revenge for main family members using the seal on the family or friends of branch members. The seal was the cause of the problem, not the solution to it."

"It keeps them in line. It keeps this clan running smoothly, so that we can remain one of the most powerful clans in Konoha."

"But Hiashi-kun, it's driving us apart. The branch family hates the main family, and the main family feels superior to the branch family. The bitterness and tension between the two houses of the Hyuga clan is so thick that you can almost see it. This is not the way a clan, no a family, should be run. We should be loving our relatives, not hating and hurting them with a seal that makes us feel superior to them and only intensifies their hate for us. Why must we continue to use this seal that is poisoning our clan?"

"It's a tradition, and it's one that the Hyuga clan has followed for generations."

"Well it's a bad tradition, and sometimes, traditions need to change. The world is not as it once was, and the Hyuga clan will perish if it cannot learn to adapt to the new world in which we live."

"Even if it is a bad tradition, there is nothing we can do about it. The power lies in the hands of the elders, and they are nothing if not traditional. They would never allow the practice of using the seal to be abandoned just because you or I think it should be."

"But…"

"I'm sorry, my love, there is nothing we can do."

"But Hiashi-kun, I don't want…" and with this, Hotokegi started to cry openly. Seeing his wife in pain, Hiashi immediately held her in a warm and loving embrace, soothing away all the pain.

"What don't you want, my dear?" Hiashi asked, trying his best to comfort his wife.

"I don't want our child to grow up in a clan where she will be hated by half of its members because of an old tradition," Hotokegi finished, wiping the tears from her eyes and resting her head on Hiashi's shoulder.

At this, Hiashi stared at his wife. 'Can she really mean what I think she means?'

"Hoto-chan, does this mean…"

Hotokegi only nodded.

"You're…We're going to…I'm going to be…"

Again, Hotokegi only nodded.

With that, acting in a very un-Hiashi-like manner, he picked up his wife and spun her around. "An heir, an heir! I'm going to have an heir! We're going to have a child! I'm going to be a father! This is wonderful news, truly wonderful news! We must go tell the clan. The elders will want to know. Of course, my brother should also know, and my nephew, though he won't really understand yet. We should probably tell the Hokage too, and the rest of the clan heads, and…"

"Honey?" asked Hotokegi with one of the most beautiful looks Hiashi had ever seen.

"Yes, my Hoto-chan? Do you need anything? Anything you need, I'll get it. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Do you want some tea? Or a back massage? Maybe you need some rest, to conserve your energy? Or…"

"How about we start with you putting me down. I'm starting to get dizzy."

Hiashi suddenly realized that he had been spinning Hotokegi in the air this entire time, and so with a rare look of embarrassment, he gladly put his wife back on the floor.

"That's better. Now I think I'll go get some sleep. You should too, while you can, because you know we won't be able to as soon as the baby is born."

"You're probably right, Hoto-chan. Besides, I want you to keep our energy up while your pregnant with my new heir. Maybe you should go inactive as a ninja for a while."

"You want me to go inactive? Why should I go inactive as a ninja?"

"I want the baby to be safe."

"Safe? Why wouldn't the baby be safe?"

"Hoto-chan, you were the one talking about the dangers of the real world a minute ago and how anything can happen on a mission. Maybe it would be better if you focused on preparing for the arrival of the new baby instead of on a mission that could be handled by another, non-pregnant ninja."

"B-But Hiashi-kun, if I don't go on missions, people will think I am weak. They will think that becoming pregnant has made me lose some of my skills and training. I can't let that happen," replied Hotokegi in a somewhat shy and frightened voice.

Hiashi just looked at her. He hadn't heard his wife stutter in a long time.

'She must really be scared of losing her reputation as a formidable ninja,' thought Hiashi.

"Honey, I promise that as soon as the baby is born you can go back to doing missions and being a full time ninja."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

This seemed to be enough for Hotokegi, as the tears that had been forming dried up and her face looked far more content and happy than it had been.

"Besides, while you're taking a break from ninja-duty, you'll have more free time to do what you want, like cooking. I know you've been dying to get in the kitchen and cook something again, despite the fact that we have fully trained, and might I add hired, chefs to cater to your every whim," said Hiashi with a genuine smile on his face.

"True, but it always seems to taste so much better when I actually cook the food myself. I guess because I get the taste of the food and the joy of knowing that I did it myself."

"Not to mention the fact that you are a great cook, probably even better than those chefs we hire," added Hiashi, making his wife blush at the compliment.

"I still don't understand why you think it would be so dangerous for me to remain active. It's not like we're at war right now. I mean, we just finished the war with Iwagakure, thanks to the fourth."

Yes, but I only want the best for my new child and his mother…"

"Or her mother"

"Yes, or _her_ mother. I don't want anything to happen to this new baby of ours."

"Oh come on, Hiashi-kun. What could possibly happen in the nine months I am pregnant with our child?"


	3. Prologue III: Last Requests

**A/N:** OK, so for anyone who was wondering why it took me so long to write this chaoter, it should now be painfully obvious. This chapter is almost 4 times as long as the other two, so writing it took me quite a while. You'll notice that the fluff in this chapter takes something of a backseat so that the story can progress. There was a lot that I needed to get out and a lot of tear-jerking moments, so be prepared. Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, this will be the last prologue. After this there will be a big time jump, but I needed to set the mood for the rest of the story. I really think that the three prologues, especially this one, could have stood on their own as one-shots, but I plan on having everything being part of one story instead of having sequals, cause that annoys me when I think I'll finish a story and get to a cliffhanger. Anyway, I'm rambling. Enjoy the final prologue of _Sunrise_.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto; Naruto owns me. I obey his commands.

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**Prologue III: Last Requests**

_In the Hokage's Office_

"How far away?" asked Minato, his voice serious and stern, lacking in its characteristic spirits.

"Our best estimate is three hours Hokage-sama," answered Jiraiya, his former sensei and most trusted friend.

Turning to the other person in the room, "How long?"

"She just went into labor," replied Shizune. "Tsunade-sama is overseeing the birth herself. At last report, the baby is due in two and a half hours. I will keep you apprised if that changes."

"Thank you, Shizune-san." With that, Shizune left to return to the hospital, where she knew her services would be required very soon.

This news was very troubling for Minato. They had approximately three hours to devise a defense strategy against the Kyuubi, or else he would destroy the village. If that wasn't bad enough, his was wife was due to give birth to his son, Naruto, in about two and a half hours.

'Kami, why today of all days did this have to happen?' thought Minato.

As Minato cleared his head trying to sort out all of this information, a light went on above his head. Standing up to turn off the light that had mysteriously turned on, he suddenly had an idea. He recalled a justu he had learned revolving around a very complicated seal.

'It is forbidden and carries a great cost, but it might work.'

But how would he break this to his wife; he knew she wouldn't understand. And then there was his son…

'Naruto, I am truly sorry for what I must do. I will curse you today. I will give you power beyond mortal comprehension and a limitless potential that you might never reach, but you will be hated for it. You will see the hatred of this village that you bear this burden to protect. I know that despite my best wishes, they will come to see you as the demon itself instead of the jail and jailor that keeps that demon from destroying them. You shall be a living martyr to a village of simpletons who just don't understand. I am truly sorry for this my son. Naruto, when you finally learn the truth, I hope you will forgive me for placing this heavy burden on you, for cursing you to live such a life instead of the happy and full life you deserve. I wish I could be there to help you, but with this technique, I will be gone, cast to a place where I can look and observe but never speak to you. I will be watching, my son, and when it is finally time for you to join me, I will be waiting for you at those pearly gates, though I am sure that will not be for many years. For now, I must keep our relation a secret, my son. I have many enemies who would love to get revenge on my kin, so you shall take on the name of your mother and her village, Uzumaki. Perhaps when you are older, stronger, and more mature, you will be ready to know who I am, and in case that day should come, I will give you something to explain everything to you and perhaps give you a glimpse of your father.'

"Someone get me a pen and two empty scrolls," he said to a group of nearby chunin.

'At least you will still have your mother…'

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_In the Konoha Hospital_

Tsunade was looking very worried. She had just performed a medical justu to check up on Kushina Uzumaki and the status of the baby, but what she found was very troubling.

"Kushina-nee-chan…" she started towards Kushina, who Tsunade considered to be the sister she never had.

"Yes, Tsunade-nee-chan," replied Kushina to her sister in a weak and timid voice. It was strange. Usually, Kushina's voice was strong and confident, sometimes a little boasting but never over the top, but always very powerful and commanding. Now her voice was but a shadow of its former glory. Kushina had been feeling very ill as of late. She had been weak and constantly tired. She thought it was just the pregnancy, but as the symptoms got worse, she soon realized something was wrong. It was as if all of her energy had just been draining away from her like a leaky pipe, and now she had very little left. She looked up at her nee-chan with wide eyes, hoping that at least the baby would be alright.

"Kushina-nee-chan, I have discovered the cause of your weakness," stated Tsunade before taking a brief pause. "There is an infection. I don't know how it happened. It could be from an old battle wound or it could be related to the pregnancy. It is a very dangerous infection know in the medical world as 'Red Death.' It is fatal if not treated early enough. Unfortunately…" At this Tsunade had to stop to wipe away the tears that were flowing near freely out of her eyes. "Unfortunately, we are too late to stop the infection. All we can do is to slow it down."

"What about the baby? What about my little Naruto?" asked Kushina hysterically, praying to whatever Kami was listening that her baby would be okay.

"We can save the baby. The mother's womb forms a very protective shield around the baby, so the infection can't penetrate. Heh, even before the child is born, a mother's protection is unmatched…" said Tsunade, trying to lighten the mood to no avail.

"How much time do I have?"

"We were able to stall off the infection for another couple hours, until after the baby is fully born. I would say that you have about three hours before…" but Tsunade couldn't finish the statement. She couldn't admit that in three short hours, her nee-chan would be dead. "I'm so sorry Kushina! I couldn't do anything to save you. Please forgive me." At this, Tsunade couldn't hold it in anymore. She started crying freely with her sister.

"It's alright Tsunade-nee-chan. There is nothing to forgive. I know you did everything you could to save me, and for that, I am thankful. My only regret is that I won't be able to see my son grow up, but the important thing is that he will grow up. He will never know a mother's love, and I will never know a mother's pride in watching her son succeed, but at least I know he will have a chance at life. That is what is important."

"But your son will never even meet you. You will…die…before the child even reaches thirty minutes old. He will never know who you are or what you are like. And then there is your husband. What will you tell him?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? You're just going to die without telling the man you love and giving him a chance to say goodbye?"

"He has too many things to be worrying about today to be coming to wish me farewell. When this day is over, he will have his chance to mourn, but for the moment, he must be focused on the task at hand, or else the entire village will suffer. I cannot be selfish, and keep him to myself when the village needs him."

"I swear, you two must be the most selfless people I have ever met. I don't think I've seen you perform a single selfish act in the entire time I've known you. Still, you should say something to him. You will be leaving him forever, or at least until he joins you on the other side, and who knows when that will be?"

"I will write him a letter, and I will write a letter to my son, so that he may know who I am. Please, Tsunade-nee-chan, fetch me a pen and two blank scrolls."

"Of course, Kushina-nee-chan." With that, Tsunade left to gather the writing materials for her nee-chan's final words to her husband and her only words to her unborn son.

'Naruto, I truly wish I would get the chance to know you, but I'm afraid that won't be possible. Forgive me my son, for leaving you without a mother.'

'At least you will still have your father…'

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**Two Hours Later...**

_In the Hokage's Office_

"I've finished the preparations for the justu, and I've written the letters to my wife and unborn son, detailing what I am doing and why. I just hope they understand," Minato said to his two trusted companions.

"I'm sure they will," replied Sarutobi, his predecessor. "I have no doubt that they will respect and honor you for the sacrifice, and when your son finds out his lineage, I'm sure he will be proud to be the son of such a great legend as yourself."

"I don't know if I am really a legend…"

"Not yet," said Jiraiya, "but you will be. When the village learns of your sacrifice, you can rest assured that you will be the stuff of legend. You will be regarded as the 'hero of Konoha.'"

"No."

"What do you mean, no?" asked the Sandaime.

"I am not the hero of Konoha. I may be giving up the rest of my life in order to seal away this demon, but it is my son who will pay the real price."

"What do you mean?"

"I have lived a full and happy life. I had parents who loved me. I had friends who enjoyed spending time with me. I had a clan who helped raise me. When I joined the Academy, I had teachers that were more than happy to teach me everything I could learn. When I became a genin, I had a team who supported me and I had a sensei who wanted nothing more than for my team and I to succeed. When I became a chunin, I had comrades and fellow shinobi who respected me. After I became a jonin, I had half of a village talking about how much talent, skill, and power I had for such a young age, and when I was selected to be the Yondaime Hokage, this increased to the entire village. My whole life has been rich and vibrant. My son will not know the pleasures I have enjoyed. I know what will happen. I am not so naïve as to believe that this village would see my son for who he truly is and not the demon that he will contain. They will hate him and despise him. They will isolate him and ignore him. They will try to hurt him physically and emotionally. They will do all of this because of something that he had no choice in and that he will not even know of for the beginning of his life. So you see, I am just giving up part of my life, whereas my son will be giving up all of the life he should have had. He is the true 'hero of Konoha,' not me."

The other two men in the room looked at each other, silently agreeing with the painful truth of the Hokage's words.

"Now, Sandaime-sama, Jiraiya-sensei, I fear I must ask you each a favor. Please pardon a dying man's last requests."

"Anything I can do for you, Hokage-sama, I will gladly do," answered Sarutobi.

"For my student, I will do anything you ask of me," replied Jiraiya.

"Thank you both. Sarutobi-sama, please take up the mantle of Hokage yet again. I know you are old, and you deserve to retire, but this village needs a Hokage, and I did not have time during my brief time as its leader to find a successor. I hope that you can find yet another person to take it up after you and become the Godaime, so that you may once again enjoy your retirement, but I must plead with you to once again lead this village until you do. In the meantime, please watch over my son. Be the grandfather he will never know, giving the sagely advice that you seem to have in abundance. Teach him the ways of the Shinobi and keep him from straying off the path."

"I shall do as you ask, Hokage-sama," said the Sandaime with a tear in his eye.

"Jiraiya-sensei, my request for you is equally important. I know you have your spy networks to manage and I know you wish to collect your, ahem, _research_, for your books, but as much as you can, watch over my son and make sure he is safe. I know he will have his mother, but she cannot always be with him, and she will not always be able to protect him. Watch him from the shadows, as I know you know how to do, and keep him safe from harm. In addition, give this," as he hands Jiraiya the first of the scrolls, "to him when he is ready. Make sure he is strong, though, for after you give it to him, he will become a target of many powerful adversaries. Also, give this," as he hands Jiraiya the second scroll, "to my wife. It explains what I am doing and how much I love her. This is my last goodbye to her, so make sure she gets it. If anything, Kami forbid, should happen to her, give it to Naruto with the other scroll so that he can know how much I loved his mother."

"Of course I will Hokage-sama. When the time comes, I shall take him under my wing and make sure he is powerful enough to defeat any enemies he should encounter and then give him the scroll as you requested, and I will deliver the scroll to your wife as soon as she is able to read it."

"Thank you Jiraiya sensei, I know that you didn't want to take on another student, so I truly appreciate the sacrifice you will be making. One more thing, Sarutobi-sempai: when Naruto is of age, give him the key to the Namikaze estate. Give it to him at sixteen, unless he proves himself strong enough sooner. Know that within the letter to Naruto are instructions on where to find the hidden library on the Namikaze estate and where the secrets of my **Hirashin no Justu** (Flying thunder god technique) are hidden. Leave these instructions with your successor, should you retire before Naruto comes of age."

"I will do as you request Yondaime-sama."

"Thank you both for everything. Make no mistake, I have no regrets about my decision. This is the only way to stop the Kyuubi, and I will not sacrifice anyone else's child for this task. I cannot ask of them anything I would not give myself. Now, I am off to stop the demon from destroying the village that is precious to me. Tell Naruto and Kushina I love them very much and that I will be watching them. Goodbye my friends."

"Goodbye, Yondaime Hokage-sama," Sarutobi and Jiraiya said in unison, offering a final farewell to a dear friend and a true hero of Konoha.

* * *

_In the Konoha Hospital_

"I've…finally…finished," said Kushina in a now completely wispy voice, her energy nearly completely gone. The infection had really begun to take a toll on her, and it was evident that she did not have much time left. Her words were short and breathless, and her face was paler than a ghost, a description that none of her friends in the room with her wanted to use in light of the situation.

"Conserve your strength," pleaded Tsunade. "You still have a baby to deliver."

"Yes, you'll need every bit of energy to get that baby out safely," added Rin.

"Don't waste what precious time you have left," finished Shizune, who, at the request of Kushina, had not told Minato the sad fate of his wife and had stayed with Kushina for the past two hours along with Tsunade and Rin.

"I still…have the energy…for this…my last requests…"

At this, the other three women in the room went deathly quiet, so that they may burn the memory of the words that their friend was about to say to them in their minds forever.

"Tsunade…I have always considered you the sister I never had. Please be the aunt that my son will never have. I know you will want to get away from the village for a bit, and that is ok, but there will come a time when he will need the motherly advice I will not be around to give. He'll need advice on girls and love, on caring and compassion; he'll need to know how to have a relationship with a woman and to treat her right. These are all the things that a mother is expected to teach her son as he grows into an adult. Additionally, should anything ever happen, should he fail a mission, should he be rejected by a girl, etc., he will need the compassionate touch of a mother to make him feel better again. This is the task I give you, Tsunade-nee-chan, and I know it will be a difficult task for you, but I beg of you. He will need you when that time comes," she finished breathlessly.

"It will be difficult, but he will be the closest thing I will have to family. I would gladly do this for you, even if you had not made it your last request of me," replied Tsunade, her eyes already filling with tears.

"I knew you would. There is one more thing, Tsunade-nee-chan. When he is ready, and I'm sure you will know when it is time, give him this scroll," continued Kushina, handing Tsunade the scroll. "In it is a lengthy letter detailing everything to my son about his family and lineage in the Uzumaki line and the traditions that go with it. It also will give him a glimpse of his mother so he will know me for who I am."

"Of course, Kushina-nee-chan."

"Rin-chan, my task for you is quite different. Of all of my friends, you are the only one who I trusted with the taijustu and kenjustu style of the Uzumaki's. This is a style that I want passed down to my son when he is ready to learn it. I'm sure his father will take care of filling his head with all the ninjustus he can find and if his chakra stores are even close to his father's, he may never be able to do genjustu's. however, I want him to be trained in the Uzumaki stlye. Teach him to flow like the swirl of the water, to spin with the spiral of the crest, and to attack with the speed of a flying disk. When he is old enough, give him _it_, as I'm sure you know what I'm referring to. Teach him to use _it_ and to treat it with the respect it deserves. Teach him to wear with pride the symbol of the Uzumaki."

"I will of course, Uzumaki-sama."

"I've been telling you for years to call me Kushina. At least do it once before you can only say it in my memory."

"Of course…Kushina."

"Thank you."

"What about me, Kushina-sama?" asked Shizune.

"Shizune-chan, I've always thought of you as a daughter or niece. I could never ask you to take on a mission such as I have given the other two, but I will ask you to keep an eye on Naruto. Children are known for going against their elder's wishes I swear I didn't mean it that way, Tsunade-nee-chan!!, but Naruto might be more willing to listen to advice if it came from say an older cousin. Hmmm?"

"Yes, of course Kushina-sama. I will be the best older cousin Naruto could ever want."

"That's my girl. Now, make sure you listen to Tsunade and learn to be the medic ninja we both know you can become."

"I will, Kushina-sama."

"Thank you, and when you see my husband again, give him this," she said, giving Shizune the second scroll. "It is a goodbye letter to my husband. Make sure he gets it, or if the worst should happen, give it to Naruto when he learns of me."

"Hai, Kushina-sama."

"Thank you all, my friends. You are truly the best friends, no, the best family, I could ever ask for. Thank you all so Oh!" she said as she suddenly felt her body contract and convulse.

"Oh, it's begun," said Tsunade. "It looks like Naruto wants out and he wants out now. He's as impatient as his father."

Kushina laughed slightly at the comparison between her unborn son and her husband. She wondered how much alike they would really be.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road. Shizune, get the nurses and start preparing. It is time to deliver that baby!"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama!"

"I'm sorry Rin-chan, but you must wait outside. Maybe you should go find out what all the fuss in the streets is about."

"I think I'll do that."

"Goodbye Rin-chan," said Kushina in a whisper.

"Goodbye, Kushina," replied Rin in an equally quiet whisper, knowing that she would never see her trusted friend alive again, but that soon she would have an important mission to carry out if the child is to become strong in the ways of the Uzumaki.

* * *

"Reaper Death Seal!"

"**I must now take away your soul as payment for using this justu."**

"I understand, Shinigami-sama."

* * *

"It's a boy!"

"My son…"

"Here you go, Kushina. Go ahead and hold him for a bit."

* * *

'Goodbye, Kushina-chan, my sweet angel. I will wait for you at the gates,' thought Minato.

* * *

'Goodbye, Minato-kun, my hero. I will wait for you at the gates,' thought Kushina.

* * *

'Goodbye, Naruto, my son. Make me proud,' they both thought in unison.

* * *

On that night, the Shinobi of Konoha gathered to see their leader selflessly sacrifice himself in order to perform the justu that sealed the Kyuubi into a newborn child.

On that night, Kushina Uzumaki of the Whirlpool village passed away after succumbing to a deadly infection.

On that night, the men and women of Konoha cried in mourning over the loss of friends, family and their Hokage, each looking for an outlet to the anger they felt at the Kyuubi for taking away so many villagers.

On that night, the fires burned brightly and instilled in the hearts of the citizens of Konohagakure 'The Will of Fire,' the desire to bring Konoha back to life and, like the phoenix of legend, to rise from its ashes and start again.

On that night, a baby boy was born unto Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina: a boy with a cursed power, a pure heart, and a desire to become the best Shinobi Konoha had ever seen.

So begins the tale of Uzumaki Naruto…


	4. 1: Respect

**A/N:** Alright, here it is. The long awaited first chapter of sunrise is finally done. Please know that I have been working at this for weeks, but most of it I've had to write down in notebooks and transfer over later, which took up a lot of time. Additionally, Obviously, this was a very long chapter. I thought about splitting it up and releasing each part separately, but there is a recurrent theme in this chapter and I didn't want that lost in the chapter breaks.

On a separate note, I want to thank all of the 550 hits I got on the prologues for this story and I really appreciate those of you who took the time to review, but I still want MORE REVIEWS. I know it takes a minute to do, but it makes it so much easier when I know what people think of my sotry and don't have to guess what you think. This will be especially crucial for this chapter so I can see what you think of Naruto's character and the changes I've made (I won't tell you what changes I've made, you'll have to read the chapter to find out).

All in all, I hope you appreciate the work that has gone into this chapter. With any luck, the next one will be up in 3 or 4 weeks. Don't ask for it sooner, its just not possible. I won't even have access to my computer for 2 and a half weeks. When it is completed, though, I can promise it will be as well thought out, and very possibly as long, as this chapter is. Without any further ado, I give you the first chapter of _Sunrise_: "Respect."

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other characters other than Hotokegi. I do own the computer I used to write this story.

* * *

**Respect**

In the village of Konoha, things were peaceful for the most part. There was still the issue of Orochimaru, who had left the village eleven years prior, suspiciously right before Kyuubi's attack. There hadn't been any news of him lately, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the current Hokage, Sarutobi, who had taken up the reins of Hokage again after his successor died in the battle against Kyuubi before naming a successor for himself. The Sandaime was worried that his former student might be plotting something, a concern he shared with the village council, but they just believed him to be worrying too much. Regardless, the village was currently enjoying a peaceful time, with all the citizens, shinobi and villager alike, dutifully doing their jobs without any major disruptions, all the citizens that is except,

"Naruto!"

Naruto raced away from his latest successful prank. He had long since earned his reputation as "Prankster Extraordinaire," performing many pranks across the village to many "untouchable" people and places without ever getting caught. Along with this reputation, the orange jumpsuit-clad ninja-in-training was known to attract yells of "menace" and "trouble-maker," but he paid them no mind. He was just your average, happy-go-lucky eleven year old kid, or at least this is what people thought when they saw him.

However, hidden beneath the fox-like grin façade was a boy whose life had been anything but joyous. All throughout his childhood, he'd had to deal with the hateful stares, the killing intent, and the nicknames "demon-child" and "monster" from people he'd never done anything to. He'd already had several attempts on his life, thwarted only by some yet unknown masked ANBU members. He didn't know why people treated him this way or why many of the children his age wouldn't even talk to him. Naruto didn't have any close friends and having grown up an orphan without any knowledge of who his parents were, he'd never known a mother's love or a father's pride.

These facts alone led to many tear filled moments whenever he dwelled on his loneliness, but he had learned at a very young age that should he ever let the villagers know of this pain, he would have let them win. He would have let them known that they had finally gotten to him, and the cold treatment would have become ten times worse. So everyday, he put on a smile, acted much stupider than he really was, and appealed to their notion that he was not worth their effort and that he bears them no threat, always hoping, planning, and working towards a time when he would be strong enough to convince them that they were wrong about him.

Still, there were mornings when he would realize that his "mask" had fallen while he was asleep, due probably to an emotional dream about some fictional parents, and he would wake up with a tear soaked pillow. Strangely enough, for reasons he could never seem to figure out, there was only one thing that would calm him down on mornings such as these. Even when his favorite food, and coincidentally one of the few he could afford, ramen would do nothing to appease his mood, this one thing would still get him back to normal. This one thing…

…a sunrise.

In the end, hide it as he may have, he still felt very lonely throughout his life. Deparate for attention of any kind, he turned to pranking and quickly became very good at it. The shout of his name by his favorite academy teacher was music to his ears, even if it was only in response to his latest trouble-making adventure. This time, it was painting the faces on the Hokage monument.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" asked Iruka, the only academy teacher who actually treated Naruto normally. "Why would you deface the heads of our former and current leaders?"

"I didn't deface all of them," replied Naruto.

"Huh?"

Iruka took another look at the monument. The Yondaime's head had not been dishonored or degraded by the paint. In fact, all that had been done to it was a proper coloring of the hair and eyes and the word "Greatest" written below the head.

"Why would you disgrace the images of all the other leaders, but leave the fourth with only complimentary painting?" asked Iruka.

"Because I respect him."

"And you don't respect the others?"

"Don't get me wrong. The first, second, and third have done great things for the village, but the Yondaime, at a younger age with much more life to live, sacrificed everything to kill Kyuubi. That's why I respect him. I also feel a connection with him. I don't know why, but every time I look at his head on the monument or at a picture of him, I feel a closeness as if he's speaking to me…"

Iruka stared dumbfounded at what Naruto had just said.

'Oh crap, I'm sounding smart again. Better think of something.'

"But that doesn't compare to ramen. Ramen, ramen, ramen!!" Iruka relaxed a little.

'That was close. I really got to make sure I don't let on that I'm only pretending to be dumb for the sake of my safety.'

It was true, Naruto probably could've passed the genin exam every time and probably been rookie of the year, but he figured if he failed a couple times, it would solidify his weak façade and concurrently make his opponents underestimate him. Consequently, he would be safer and better protected.

"But Naruto, why today of all days? Today is the day of the genin exams, and you've already failed three times."

"I know, but I'll pass it this time for sure! Believe it!"

'I wish I could believe you Naruto, but sadly, I think you will once again fail the exam.'

Naruto saw the worried look on his teacher's face and was moved by it. It took all of his control to keep from leaping up and hugging the closest thing to a father he'd ever had.

"Don't worry, sensei, I have a feeling it will be different this time."

Truthfully, he had already decided to not intentionally fail the exam this time. There were a few nice kids in this years class, plus a pompous jerk he wouldn't mind kicking around. He even had a few quasi-friends. There was also this one girl in the back of the class with the lavender eyes…

During this time, Iruka had been studying the expressions going across Naruto's face. When he had spoken, there had been an aura of determination about him, giving hope to his sensei that he just might pass this time. Then his face changed to a look of satisfaction as if he had just accomplished some goal. This was followed by a look of peacefulness; he was obviously enjoying whatever it was he was thinking about. After this, he had a slight scowl, but only for a moment. Then there was a grin, but it wasn't his usual fox-grin. This was a sincere grin. Whatever he was thinking about was obviously very pleasant. Then, Iruka saw something he definitely didn't expect: a slight blush appeared on Naruto's face. It was very slight and was gone as quickly as the scowl before, but it was there. Iruka wasn't sure what thoughts could have provoked such strong and varied emotions, but he was sure of one thing: Naruto was not the simple child Iruka had taken him to be.

'I'll need to watch him closer.'

"Come on Naruto, let's get over to the academy for that exam." Naruto nodded his head and the two took off for towards the school.

Meanwhile, at the Hyuuga compound, a very different conversation was taking place.

* * *

_At the Hyuuga Compound_

"Hinata," called a stern voice.

"Y-Yes, father," replied a quiet, timid voice.

'Again with the stuttering. Ever since that incident with the cloud ninja when she was three, she's had no confidence whatsoever. It's a shame; she has such potential to be a powerful ninja, more powerful than Neji or even myself, but her lack of confidence keeps her from reaching it.'

"Your genin exams are today, are they not?"

"Y-Yes, father, t-they are."

"Try not to disappoint me."

"Y-Yes, father, I w-will try."

With that, Hinata left to pack up the rest of her things, leaving her father alone in his study. When Hinata closed the door, Hiashi relaxed his facial muscles and let out a long sigh.

'I hate being the stern overbearing clan head instead of just being your father. Every time I have to distance myself from you for the sake of the clan, it kills me inside.'

He took a picture from a glass case. The picture was of a woman who could be Hinata's twin if Hinata was a few years older.

'You are so much like your mother. It's not just in your looks, but your nature. She too would fight only when absolutely necessary, but when it was, I pity the ninja opposite her. Like her, you are kind and caring, always willing to sacrifice your own comfort for the sake of others. You also share her love for flowers and waterfalls. I still remember the walks I took with Hotokegi through the Hyuuga gardens. She loved tending those gardens, even though we had servants to tend them for her. She would always be willing to dirty her hands to do the work, a quality less and less present in Hyuugas nowadays. I can only hope you will one day find the courage and confidence to bring this clan back to the prosperity and prestige it is too blinded by its ego to notice it's lost. Maybe then we can finally become the family I've wanted to be and I can be the father you deserve.'

'I love you Hinata.'

* * *

'He hates me,' thought Hinata, as she wiped the tears from her eyes. 'He thinks I am weak, that I don't deserve to be heiress. Maybe he's right…'

The tears started falling again.

'If only I were stronger and had more confidence, maybe I wouldn't disappoint him or my clan…'

As she finished packing her stuff and headed for the compound gates, she started hearing the whispers again.

"I can't believe she is clan heiress. She is so weak."

"They ought to give her the caged bird seal and put her in the branch family. She doesn't belong in the main house."

Hinata had gotten used to this. She heard these statements everyday. They were always in whispers; no one dared to speak them out loud, less they be considered traitors to the clan. Still, they were always there, surrounding Hinata with harsh words that only lowered her already minimal self-esteem. Hinata tried her best to ignore them, but they were affecting her nonetheless. This coupled with the face that she had few friends at the academy was enough to make Hinata extremely shy and timid. It would take quite a bit to get her out of her shell.

Even the genin exams, a chance to improve her rank, were not enough to give her hope of change. Still, she was sure she would pass. Her book smarts were high, the imformation having been drilled into her from a young age as clan heiress, and her chakra control has high enough to pull of any justu they could ask for. Yes, she was sure that _she_ would pass, but what about a certain blonde haired student she'd been thinking about lately?

This last thought sent a blush to her face.

'I hope you pass, Naruto. Then maybe we'll even be on the same team.'

She smiled a quick smile, but it soon faded.

'No, that would never happen. Besides, why would Naruto want to be on the same team as weak me?'

As she reached the academy, she realized that she was once again the first one there.

'First is the worst,' she thought to herself, remembering a childhood rhyme.

'Second is the best,' she continued and watched as Uchiha Sasuke walked into the classroom, as if responding to her thoughts.

'But third will go further than all the rest,' she finished, wondering who the third person would be when Uzumaki Naruto walked in trailed by her sensei, Iruka, who at the moment appeared to be lost in thought.

Hinata had the sudden urge to go up to Naruto and greet him. She'd had this urge before, but she'd never acted on it. Then again, it had never been as intense as it currently was. Now, it was as though not giving in to this sudden urge would drive her insane. So, in a spontaneous surge of courage, she spoke.

"Hello, N-Naruto-kun."

Naruto turned to the new voice, only to find that it belonged to the same lavendar eyed girl that had curiously made him blush earlier.

"Eh, hello Hinata," he replied, once again losing control of the blood flow to his face, causing a pink blush to appear.

Meanwhile, a similar pink blush began to appear on Hinata's face.

They both saw this and immediately turned away, each wondering about the other's reaction. Luckily, the only ones in the room at the time were Iruka and Sasuke. Sasuke was too cool to care, and Iruka was still preoccupied with his and Naruto's earlier conversation. The two stayed like this for a few long moments before it was finally Hinata who broke the silence.

"Well, I j-just wanted t-to say, g-good luck, N-Naruto-kun."

"Thanks Hinata, you too," he responded, the blush receding but still evident on his face.

They each went to their respective seats and the rest of the class started trickling in.

"Alright class, take your seats," Iruka announced. "Mizuki-sensei will be passing out the written portion of the exam. You have one hour to complete it. Good luck!" This last part was said as he looked directly at Naruto.

Naruto saw the look but thought nothing of it. He was ready for the exam, even if Iruka-sensei didn't believe it. Feeling very confident in himself, he let his mind drift for a few minutes. Thoughts of Hinata suddenly popped into his head. He found himself confused about his feelings towards her.

'Wait, since when do I have feelings towards her at all? She's just the weird girl in the back of the class, isn't she?'

He found a voice in the back of his head (not Kyuubi) disagreeing with him.

'No, she's more than that now, but what is she? Is she a friend? No, I haven't known her long enough to call her a friend. A colleague? I've never worked with her before. A comrade? No, that's basically the same thing as a friend. An acquaintance?'

He thought about this for a bit.

'No, that's too formal, or maybe it's too impersonal. I know who she is. I know who her family is, even if I haven't met them. I know she likes flowers…'

He stopped for a moment.

'How do I know she likes flowers? Well, she was always pressing flowers during recess, but why was I paying attention? I hardly knew her. I had no reason to pay attention to her, but I did. Why?'

These thoughts kept repeating in his head. He couldn't seem to resolve the conflict.

'Maybe it's because…'

"Pencils down!" yelled Iruka.

Naruto was confused for a moment until he looked at the clock on the wall.

'Oh crap! I spent the whole hour thinking about Hinata!'

He blushed a bit about spending an entire hour thinking about Hinata, before realizing he hadn't answered a single question on the exam.

"Wait," he said, urging Iruka-sensei to give him more time.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but time has expired. Please pass in your exam."

"But…"

"Rules are rules Naruto."

Naruto handed Iruka the blank exam with only his name written at the top. Iruka saw this and looked back at Naruto sympathetically. He knew that with a zero on the written portion, Naruto would need basically a perfect score on the other portions of the exam in order to pass, including doing a perfect Bunshin, a justu Iruka had yet to see Naruto perform correctly. Of course, he wasn't going to tell this to Naruto.

'Let him keep believing and working hard,' though Iruka, but Naruto already knew. He had taken the exams enough times to know that getting a zero on any portion of the exam almost guarantees failing. He looked over to Mizuki to see what his reaction was. He was shocked by what he saw.

There was a glint in Mizuki's eyes and a small smile across his face.

'He was expecting me to fail. No, it's more than that. He wanted me to fail. I wonder why.'

He looked again to see Mizuki's eyes staring blankly into space.

'He's obviously deep in thought. By his expressions, it looks like he's going over things in his head repeatedly.' Then it clicked. 'He has something planned, and whatever it is, it requires me failing the exam. Now the only question is whether I perform perfectly for the rest of the exam, which I could, or do I let myself fail and find our what Mizuki-sensei is up to. On the one hand, what Mizuki-sensei is planning could be bad for the village. On the other hand, I wouldn't graduate with Hin-, er, with my classmates.'

As he tried to weigh his options, he thought back to his conversation with Iruka and how he respected the Yondaime Hokage.

'The Yondaime,' he thought. 'The Yondaime gave up his life for the sake of the village and I'm worried about a few classmates?' he asked himself rhetorically. 'No, I will find out what Mizuki-_sensei_ is planning and I will stop him.'

His decision made, it was just a matter of making his failure believable. This would require two phases. The first phase would be the actual failing of the exam. This was the easy part; he would just mess up the bunshin no justu.

'Even though I can pull it off, no one knows that I can, so my failing it would be believable enough. The second phase is going to be harder and is going to require a skill I have not had very much practice at: acting. If the general populace, and Mizuki specifically, is to believe that I failed the exam not-on-purpose, then I will have to react the right way. I need to seem sad and even dejected to make the failure completely believable.'

The plan was set; all that remained was the execution. Phase one went down flawlessly. Naruto put too much chakra into the jutsu and it failed miserably, just as he knew it would. As for phase two, it started out well enough. After receiving his failing grade from Iruka-sensei, who looked deeply saddened to have needed to give it to him, Naruto went outside and sat on the swing in front of the academy. He hung his head low and forced out some tears. He felt a little proud of himself for playing the part so well, but as he looked up to take in his surroundings, his mood changed immediately. What he saw he would swear for the rest of his life he never wanted to see again.

Hinata was crying.

* * *

Hinata was feeling pretty good. She had passed the exam with flying colors. Her written score was perfect and everything else was above average. She wasn't rookie of the year, no, that went to Sasuke as she had earlier predicted, but she still had a decent rank. She currently wore her new hitai-ite around her neck, as was customary for main family Hyuuga clan women. She went outside to find out who had been sent to pick her up. It was always someone from the clan and usually from the branch family. His father had never come; he wouldn't lower himself to such a task even if she was his daughter. Well, she didn't see anyone yet so she figured she would seek out Naruto while she was waiting for her escort. She looked all over but couldn't seem to find him.

'Maybe he already went home,' she told herself.

She was about to give up her search when she saw him out on the swing in front of the academy. She started going over to him when she noticed that he had his head hung low.

'He must be tired. Those Justus can be a bit draining. I'm actually feeling a bit tired myself.'

This seemed to be the end of the thought in her mind except that something didn't seem right about Naruto. Something seemed to be missing…

She gasped.

'He doesn't have his hitai-ite. Didn't he pass?'

As if in answer to her unspoken question, she overheard two girls talking.

"It's a good thing he failed. Just imagine what would happen if _he_ became a ninja. I mean, he's the one with the…"

"Shhh, we're not supposed to talk about that."

'The one with the what? What does Naruto have and why don't they want him to pass the exam?'

As she looked back at Naruto, she felt herself loosing all control of her emotions. In a matter of moments, the dam sprung a leak and tears began falling from her eyes. A few moments more and the dam broke completely, leaving her weeping freely. It was at this point that through the tears she could see Naruto look up at her.

* * *

'Oh no, why is she crying?' Naruto asked himself. 'I must have done something stupid or offended her somehow. What do I do?'

He wasn't sure but what he did know was that watching her cry was tearing his heart into two.

'I never knew anything could hurt this much. All the physical abuse I've ever received can't even come close to this. How do I make this feeling go away?'

He quickly decided that if watching Hinata was causing this pain then looking away might alleviate it. Going along with this logic, he immediately spun his head around and looked in the apposite direction. This in turn created a new feeling in the pit of his stomach he would later identify as guilt. This he decided was just as bad as the feeling before. These feelings were starting to create the tears he had previously been faking. He couldn't handle these feelings any longer, so he did the only thing he could think of.

He ran away.

This proved to be the right decision as the feelings eventually subsided. Additionally, he figured, it solidified the act he was putting on. He knew this to be true when he ran into (almost literally) Mizuki.

"Where's the fire, Naruto?"

"I just needed to get away from the academy," Naruto half-lied.

"You know, Naruto, I really believed you deserved to pass that exam."

"Really?"

"Really. In fact, I believe it so much, I'll let you in on a secret. There's another way to become genin."

"How?" asked Naruto, though he knew for a fact there was no way to do this.

"There is a special scroll in the Hokage's office that should you learn a jutsu from it, the village will have to promote you."

'So that was his plan. He wants me to steal the scroll of forbidden jutsu.'

Since Naruto had known the Sandaime basically since birth, he had spent many afternoons in Sarutobi's office just talking to him. As of yet, he was the only person Naruto had trusted enough to talk to without acting stupider than he actually was. He remembered the day he had asked "Oji-san" as he called the third about the forbidden scroll.

**Flashback:**

"Hey Oji-san, what is that scroll over there? I've seen it before, but I've never asked what's in it. It looks important."

"Oh it is important, and it's also very dangerous."

Naruto just looked forward, literally on the edge of his seat, and waited to hear the rest.

"Naruto, what I'm about to tell you is an S-class secret. No one in the village except for those I trust know the contents of this scroll."

He cleared his throat before continuing.

"In this scroll are all of the forbidden jutsus, or kinjutsus. The use of any jutsu in this scroll is strictly forbidden."

"Oji-san, if all of those jutsus are forbidden, why not destroy the scroll so that no one can ever learn or use them?"

The third was momentarily shocked by the intelligence of the question.

"That's a good question, Naruto. The reason we keep the scroll instead of destroying it is that sometimes the use of one of these jutsus is warranted. For example, say there was a jutsu that could save a person's life when nothing else could, but it required the sacrifice of one's own life to perform the jutsu. Under normal circumstances, the knowledge of this jutsu could be very dangerous, hence why it is forbidden, but if saving a person's life could also help save the village, the sacrifice of the one life would be warranted. Sacrificing one life to save many lives, for the good of the many, the jutsu, though dangerous, would be the key to saving lives. Thus, we keep the scroll and all of the jutsus inside just in case one of these situations should arise."

Naruto could see the logic in this and so he did not argue. Instead, he just stored the information in the back of his mind, figuring he one day might need it.

**End Flashback**

And now that day had come. Of course, Mizuki would have no idea that Naruto and Sarutobi had had this conversation, and that could be the deciding factor in whether Naruto could stop Mizuki from getting his hands on that scroll.

'I just have to lead him on to believe I'm doing what he asked. Then, when I go see Oji-san, I'll get him to help me take Mizuki down.'

"Thanks Mizuki-sensei! I'll do it tonight and become a genin for sure. Believe it!"  
'That's right brat, play right into my hand. When I give that scroll to Orochimaru-sama, he will reward me greatly. As if a demon deserves to be a genin anyway. I'm doing this village a favor. After this, the Hokage will have no choice but to kill or at least exile the monster. Things are going just as I planned.'

_

* * *

_

Later that night

Sarutobi was just finishing up the paperwork.

"I swear, sometimes I think Minato sacrificed himself to get away from the paperwork.'

Just then the door burst open and in walked someone with blonde hair and blue eyes.

'Min- no, wait, it's just Naruto,' but just as he was about to say something, Naruto put a finger to his lips, signaling Sarutobi to be quiet. The Sandaime nodded in understanding. Then he saw Naruto hold up a piece of paper with Kanji written on it. It read as follows:

_Hokage-sama, this is a matter of much importance. Could you put up a barrier around this room so that no one outside it from listening to or watching anything going on inside this room?_

Again, the Sandaime nodded, noting the seriousness of the matter if Naruto was going to address him as "Hokage-sama." He performed a few hand signs and then called out (silently as to not alert others he was doing it) "Naishou no jutsu" (Privacy technique). As soon as the barrier was up, he spoke.

"Alright Naruto, the barrier is in place what is this about?"

"I must speak quickly or else it might be suspicious for me to be here too long. Mizuki is a traitor. He tried to convince me to steal the forbidden scroll. I played along so that he wouldn't know that I already knew about the scroll. My plan is to take the scroll, with your permission of course, and run into the forest. As soon as Mizuki finds me, I'll try to get him to tell me his plans. As soon as I've done this, I'll send up a signal and your ANBU can capture him. I will stall him until the ANBU arrive by fighting him. I may not be able to beat him, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve that will confuse him and cause him to delay, giving the ANBU time to get there."

'That is an appropriate course of action, given the circumstances, and a very well thought out plan. Could it be that I have once again underestimated him?' the third though to himself.

"That should work fine, Naruto. Be careful. Oh, and Naruto, there is a jutsu in the scroll, Kage Bunshin no jutsu, that should you have time you have my permission to learn."

"But what of the dangers?"

"Ah, but this is one of those exceptions I spoke of. I'll explain later, now go!"

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

With that, Naruto grabbed the scroll and jumped out of the window. He quickly ran to the forest on the edge of Konoha. As he waited for Mizuki to show up, he started reading up on the entry in the scroll for Kage Bunshin. After reading it carefully, Naruto began training.

Meanwhile, back in the Hokage's tower, Sarutobi had called all the ANBU, jounin and high ranking chuunin into his office.

"Attention everyone, we have a situation here. Uzumaki Naruto has stolen the scroll of forbidden jutsus."

Gasps were heard among the ninjas.

"We have to stop him."  
"We can't let the demon escape with that scroll."

The Sandaime suppressed the urge to kill or punish the shinobi who had said that, at least for the moment.

"Here is the plan. I want all the chuunins and jounins in this office to search the village. ANBU, you will stay here for the moment. When we find him, I want the ANBU to surround the _traitor_," Sarutobi finished, putting emphasis on the word traitor and choosing his words carefully.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," they all said in unison.

After the chuunin and jounin left, Sarutobi turned to his trusted ANBU.

"Listen very carefully. Uzumaki Naruto is not a traitor and he did not steal that scroll."

The ANBU looked confused even behind their masks.

"But the scroll is gone isn't it?" one of them asked.

"Oh yes, but that's because I gave it to Naruto. He did not steal it, he took it away with my permission."

"Why?"

"Because if he didn't, Mizuki would have. Mizuki is the traitor. Naruto found this out and devised a strategy to discover Mizuki's plans. The scroll is merely bait. When Naruto sends up the signal, I want you to go and capture Mizuki, catching him in the act. He will be in the forest at the edge of the village."

"How do you know one of the chuunins or jounins won't find him first?"

"Because there is only one other person besides Naruto and myself who knows of the place where Naruto is going."

"Who?"

"Iruka, Naruto's sensei and closest friend. I would go so far as to say that Naruto views Iruka as the father he's never known," at this a tear appeared in the Sandaime's eye, though the ANBU didn't know why, "and Iruka views Naruto as the son he's never had. Iruka will not harm Naruto, of this I am sure."

The ANBU looked content and prepared to move as soon as the saw the signal.

* * *

Back in the forest, Naruto was just resting, having successfully mastered the new jutsu and dismissed all of his clones. He had only closed his eyes for a moment when he heard a familiar voice.

Naruto!" yelled Iruka.

'It figures that Iruka-sensei would find me here. I just hope his being here doesn't put him in danger.'

"Naruto, what do you think you are doing?"

Naruto was about to answer when he heard something in the trees.

'Better keep up the charade, in case that's Mizuki in the trees.'

"I did it, Iruka-sensei! Now I can become a genin!" he shouted happily.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I learned a jutsu from the scroll, so now you have to make me a genin, right?"

Iruka looked worried.

"Naruto, who told you this?"

"Mizuki-sensei did. So, do I get my hitai-ite now?"

"Mizuki?" Just then, Iruka heard a whizzing sound coming from the trees. "Naruto, get down!"

Iruka flung himself in front of Naruto just in time to get hit in the back by a fuma shuriken.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, sincerely worried about his teacher.

"Ah, Iruka. Come to kill the brat?" asked Mizuki, appearing in the trees, and obviously having not yet noticed the fact that Iruka took the hit.

"No! I will protect him from you, traitor!"

"Oh, Iruka, that hurts. Now Naruto, give me that scroll."

"No, Naruto, don't give him that scroll. Run, Naruto!"

Naruto, not needing to be told twice, took off at a run and hid behind a tree. He wanted to hear this conversation.

"Iruka, you are becoming a nuisance. You should have let Naruto give me that scroll."

"What do you want with that scroll?"

"Well, since you are going to die here anyway, I'll tell you. I am only taking the scroll to someone who can truly appreciate it."

"Who?"

"Orochimaru."  
Iruka stood shocked.

"O-Orochimaru?" Iruka asked, sounding worried.

"That's right, and he promises me a great reward for bringing it to him."

"You can't trust him!"

"As if I would listen to you! Anyway, enough talk. It's time to die!" As he said this, he threw a set of kunai. All of them hit. Mizuki smiled briefly until he saw that Iruka had been replaced by a log.

"Kawarimi? Damn."

Mizuki ran off and ran for a few minutes before seeing Naruto running through the trees with the scroll. Throwing a couple of shuriken, Mizuki was able to knock Naruto off balance long enough to tackle him down to the ground.

"I got you now!" he screamed, only to be disappointed when Naruto turned out to be Iruka under a henge.

"That's it! You've become quite annoying, Iruka. I think I'll kill you now and then go after the brat." Mizuki took out a kunai and prepared to strike at Iruka's heart, but just before the strike made contact, it was blocked by another kunai, held by none other than Naruto himself.

"I will not let you kill Iruka-sensei!"

Mizuki just laughed.

"You do so much to protect him, yet he keeps a secret from you."

Iruka's eyes went wide.

"You see, there is a reason everyone in the villahe hates you."

"No! It's forbidden!" screamed Iruka.

"What's forbidden? What's going on?" asked Naruto.

"You see, Naruto, eleven years ago on October tenth," 'My birthday,' "a nine tailed demon fox known as Kyuubi attacked the village," 'and the fourth killed it,' "but try as he might, the Yondaime couldn't kill it."

'He couldn't kill it? But then, what did he do?'

"With no choices left, he sacrificed his life to perform a jutsu."

'What kind of jutsu?'

"It was a jutsu that would turn the Kyuubi into a human baby with no memory of its past."

'No.'

"That child was you."

'It can't be.'

"So you see Naruto, you are the demon fox!" finished Mizuki.

"No!" yelled Naruto. "It's not true! It can't be true! Iruka-sensei, tell him its not true!"

"Naruto…"

"No!" With that he ran into the woods and hid behind another tree.

"Why do you protect him, Iruka? The Kyuubi killed your parents. He's a demon whose killed innocent people. He deserves to die."

"You're right."

'No, even Iruka-sensei hates me,' thought Naruto from his hiding place.

"You're right, the Kyuubi did kill my parents, and killing innocent people is something a demon would do, but Naruto hasn't. Naruto wouldn't. He hasn't even injured an innocent person, or anyone at that, even the people who have hurt him. That is how I know he is not the demon!"

'Iruka-sensei…' Naruto started tearing.

"Regardless, I will still kill him right after I kill you."

"You will not touch him! You will not touch one of my precious people!" yelled Naruto.

"Oh, and what are you going to do about it, brat?"

"This. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

In a large puff of smoke, the forest became filled with 50 Naruto clones. There was so much smoke from the jutsu that it could be seen billowing out miles away, which was exactly what Naruto wanted.

* * *

At the Hokage tower, the Sandaime quickly turns to his ANBU.

"There! The smoke: that must be the signal! Move out!" ordered the Hokage.

* * *

Back in the forest, the 50 Narutos had given Mizuki quite a beating. As Mizuki got up, bloody and bruised, he yelled out,

"Is that your best? You can't defeat me. Why don't you just give up and give that scroll to me so that I can take it out of this village and give it to its rightful owner?"

"Or we could just put you in jail."

Suddenly, 12 ANBU dropped down from the trees, surrounding Mizuki.

"Oh, crud."

Once Mizuki had left with a few ANBU members to await the interrogation he would receive at ANBU headquarters before going to Konoha prison, the remainder of the ANBU members turned to Naruto.

"Mizuki is gone. Please give us the scroll so that we may return it to the Hokage," said one of the ANBU.

"If it's all the same to you," Naruto replied. "I'd like to return it to the Hokage myself. No offense, but you never know who you can and can't trust thses days, especially when people wear masks. I know its part of the ANBU outfit, but still, you can never be too careful. Of course, you can accompany me. I have no problem with that, and you would be fulfilling your duty to the Sandaime."

"That will be fine."

"Good, I needed to talk to him anyways."

Naruto walked with the ANBU back to the Hokage tower, where he went straight up to the Hokage's office.

"Ah, Naruto, you have returned and apparently successfully."

"Hai, Hokage-sama. Here is the scroll." Naruto handed Sarutobi the scroll.

"And were you able to find out Mizuki's plans?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. Apparently, Mizuki was only getting the scroll to give it to someone else in exchange for some sort of a reward."

"I suspected as much. Do you know who this man was?"

"Hai, it was…Orochimaru."

Sarutobi's eyes widened significantly.

"So, he has finally resurfaced. This is indeed very troubling. If only we could catch him, but undoubtedly by the time we get Mizuki to admit where they were to meet, Orochimaru will be long gone, the slippery devil. Still, I will put the ANBU and jounins on alert, just in case. I want you to know Naruto that you have done a great thing for your village today. Your actions speak volumes of the level of your character and are a firm example of the qualities we look for in our shinobi."

Naruto just grinned happily at this last comment.

"Now, on to other matters. Iruka, you can come in now," he called to the door of is office. Iruka walked in immediately after being summoned.

"Iruka-sensei! Are you alright?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, I'll be fine. The doctors say I just need to take it easy for a couple of days."

"But you're in pain because of me."

"I am in pain, Naruto, because I chose to save my student and…my friend, and I would gladly do it again to help protect those precious to me."

'Ah, Iruka, your eyes betray you.' Thought the third. 'Though you may have said 'friend,' the word on your mind was something far closer to 'son.' Hide it as you may try to, it is evident to those who know where to look.'

Naruto's thoughts were quite a bit different.

'Iruka-sensei said he would gladly take pain to protect those precious to him. It's just like the fourth sacrificing himself. That's the kind of shinobi, and the kind of man, that I want to be. Iruka-sensei, you have truly earned my respect.'

"So, Iruka," began Sarutobi. "It has come to my attention that an S-class law has been broken by Mizuki. Is this true?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. Naruto knows the truth about his…tenant, though I believe Mizuki gave the wrong impression to Naruto. You may want to make sure he knows the real truth."

Naruto stood confused.

"Real truth?"

"Ah, yes. Naruto, first understand that this is an S-class secret about an S-class law. Please let me tell you the full story before you interrupt. When the Kyuubi attacked, the village did everything it could to try and stop the demon, but nothing worked. You see, a bijuu such as the Kyuubi cannot be killed by any mere mortal. The Yondaime understood this and was faced with only one option. If the demon could not be killed, it would need to be sealed. The only sealing technique powerful enough to handle a being of the power that the Kyuubi had was the Reaper Death Seal, a forbidden jutsu. This was one of those exceptions I mentioned. The technique was forbidden because it required the sacrifice of the caster upon completion of the technique. Under normal circumstances, this would be very dangerous, but by sacrifing himself, the fourth was able to save the entire village. So, the use of the forbidden technique, in this case, was warranted."

Sarutobi took a brief pause, just long enough to take a puff from his pipe.

"However there was one more problem. The Kyuubi was too powerful to be sealed into some inanimate object. It would have to be sealed into a person, but more than that, it would have to be sealed into a newborn baby whose chakra coils had not fully developed yet. This was so that the baby's body could adapt to the new source of chakra as the coils developed. If it were sealed into an adult, the chakra would overload the coils and the person would die, releasing the Kyuubi back into the world and wasting the lives of the Yondaime and the potential vessel. So, they needed a newborn child. Luckily, there was such a child who had been born the day of the attack, October tenth, only a mere half an hour before the Kyuubi reached Konoha. The boy was an orphan, his mother dying during childbirth and his father killed while fighting off the Kyuubi."

At this, the Sandaime had to stop again, this time to wipe a tear from his eye, a gesture that Naruto would be sure to ask him about later. For the moment, he was too caught up in the story.

"Anyway, Naruto, this is why this burden was placed on you. That day, after I took back the position of Hokage from the Yondaime, I made an S-class law. It stated that the fact that the Kyuubi was sealed in you was to be kept secret and never spoken of or about to anyone who didn't already known. Breaking this law was a capital offense, punishable by death, a fate that now awaits Mizuki. The only ones allowed to speak of it were the Hokage and you when you finally learned the truth, as you have now. This is your secret, Naruo. Tell who you want, or tell no one. It is entirely your choice, but seriously consider _both_ options before deciding whether or not to tell someone of your secret."

Naruto looked to still be digesting some of the information but was generally accepting of all he had been told. He looked at the Sandaime and gave him a slight nod to signal that he understood.

"Good, now there is one more order of business. Iruka, would you like to do the honors?"

"Hai, I would, Hokage-sama. Naruto, while you were fighting Mizuki, I saw you use a technique that you must have learned from the forbidden scroll. I believe it was Kage Bunshin, yes?"

Naruto just nodded.

"Well, seeing as how failing the Bunshin during the genin exam was what caused you to fail the exam in the end, I do believe you've earned this. Close your eyes please."

Naruto did and then felt something being placed on his forehead.

"Ok, you can open them."

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at Iruka to notice that his hitai-ite was missing. He then looked at a mirror in the room to see where it had gone.

It was now on Naruto's forehead.

"Does this mean…?"

"Yes, Naruto, you pass. You are now a genin. Congratualtions."

After a few shouts of joy, which he just couldn't keep in, he finally calmed down enough to speak.

"Oh, thank you Iruka-sensei," he said, hugging his teacher. Once the embrace ended, he continued. "I was so worried that after I intentionally failed the exam that I wouldn't be able to graduate with this year's class."

"Wait, what do you mean, 'intentionally fail?'"

Naruto didn't even think of dumbing down his answer this time.

'It's time Iruka-sensei saw the real me.'

"Well, failing the written exam wasn't intentional. I actually knew the answers, I just got, er, distracted during the exam. But after I saw the look on Mizuki's face when I failed it, I deduced that he had something up his sleeve that involved my failing. Worried about it being something that could harm the village, I decided to play along and fail the Bunshin jutsu, the most believable part of the rest of the exam for me to fail, since no one had seen me use it correctly."

"So, you can actually perform the Bunshin justu?"

Naruto made the handsigns and produced a perfect clone.

"Yep, without even calling out the name of the jutsu, but don't tell anyone. I want to use it in conjunction with Kage Bunshin and confuse people for an attack."

With that he dispersed the clone.

'I have been underestimating him the whole time. Has it all been an act?'

With everything settled, Naruto was about to head home when he remembered something.

"Oh yeah. By the way, Iruka-sensei, did Hinata get home alright? I saw her crying while I was pretending to be disappointed about failing the exam. I hope nothing's wrong." He intentionally left out the part about his own feelings, vowing silently to himself to figure those out later.

'He was worried about Hinata? Interesting.'

"Yes, I saw her leaving with her cousin Neji. Here eyes looked to be a bit puffy from crying, but otherwise she looked fine."

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei. Konbanwa, Iruka-sensei, Oji-san!"

"Konbanwa, Naruto," they both replied as he left.

"He truly is a great shinobi, isn't he?" asked Iruka.

"Without realizing it, he's taught himself to be a great strategist, thinker, and leader."

"On top of that, he's learned the true meaning of selflessness and sacrifice, putting the safety of his friends and his village, including those that hate him, above his own."

'Like father, like son Minato,' thought the Hokage.

"He'll make a fine Hokage one day," 'just like you.'

"That he will, that he will."

* * *

Back at his apartment, Naruto laid down to go to sleep.

'I do hope Hinata is alright, though I'm sure she can take care of herself.'

As he thought over everything that he had learned, he started coming to terms with it all.

'Well, fox, I guess you and I are roommates.'

He could swear he heard a grunt in response, but he might've been imagining it.

After all, it had been a long day.


	5. 2: Trust and Teamwork

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up. I know you all have been waiting patiently for the next chapter, so here it is. Before that, let me assure you:

I WILL NEVER ABANDON THIS STORY.

If I feel that I can no longer continue writing it or that I will be taking a prolonged hiatus, I will tell you. Otherwise, you can safely assume that I am working on the next chapter. It just takes me a while to get my thoughts organized and the text typed. I do not use a beta, but rather edit it myself as I am going, so that I can become a better writer in the future. That being said, enjoy my first 10k chapter. There ought to be plenty of fluff to please without suffocating you.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. If I did, Naruto would have gotten together with Hinata in the manga already.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto woke with a start. Light was peaking through his window. He could see that the sun was just rising above the horizon. Suddenly filled with the warmth and energy that only came from a sunrise, Naruto felt ready to get on with the day.

'Another sunrise, another new day: time to get stronger,' thought Naruto.

He went through his morning routine and went into the kitchen to make some breakfast. A quick look in the fridge told him that the milk he had been planning on using wasn't good anymore. Left without any other options, he made himself some instant ramen.

'As much as I love ramen, I really need to vary my diet or else my growth might be stunted. At least that's what they said in the 'Living on your Own' class at the academy. I should really learn to cook. Maybe Iruka-sensei can help me. Or, I could ask Hinata.' He thought for a moment. 'No, the Hyuugas probably have servants to cook for them. What are all these random thoughts about Hinata, anyways?'

When he finished his breakfast, Naruto grabbed his new hitai-ite and checked to see that he still had some time before he needed to be at the academy, so he decided to take a quick lap around the village to warm up for the day ahead. About a quarter of a lap around he ran into his friend and running partner, Rock Lee.

"Hey Lee!" he yelled out.

"Ohayo Naruto-san! I see your flames of youth are burning extremely brightly today, and is that a new hitai-ite on your forehead?" yelled his friend.  
"Yes, Lee, it is. I am now a genin of Konoha."

"Congratulations, Naruto-san! Now we may have our long-awaited battle. At the chuunin exams perhaps?" Lee asked, anxious for the day the two would fight.

Lee and Naruto had spent many of their runs around the village talking about their attitudes towards ninja ways and how each of them thinks a ninja's greatness can be defined. Lee believes the difference between a good ninja and a great ninja is the amount of hard work put in, a theory he planned on proving through his rigorous training of a body that cannot due ninjutsu.

Although Naruto believed that hard work was essential, he thought that it was the choices a shinobi makes that determines their greatness. According to him, if a ninja were to train his entire life, becoming a master of taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu and kenjutsu (weaponry), but didn't utilize those skills and abilities for the betterment of his friends, family, and village, he could not be considered great. Without using those skills effectively, he lacks that which would make him great. At the same time, a man can be great without having worked hard his whole life, if he is willing to give everything he has for something. If a ninja had no strength but sacrificed himself to save his family, he would be considered a great ninja.

The pair kept their own beliefs while respecting the other's. The one thing they had in common is the disbelief that greatness is natural, born-with, or destined. "We make ourselves great," they liked to say. For these reasons, and their eye-witness knowledge of the other's training, they remained anxious for their inevitable fight.

"I await our fight, Lee."

"As do I my comrade. Now, do you not need to get to the academy for team assignments?" asked Lee. Looking at his watch, Naruto saw that it was indeed time to part ways with his friend and head to the academy.

"Yes, I suppose I do. Maybe I'll see you later on the training fields."

"Perhaps. Until then, Naruto-san, sayonara!"

"Bai Lee."

As he walked towards the academy, he thought about all of his classmates and the possible teammates he might have. He had spent considerable time studying each of his classmates so that he would be ready should he become teammates with any of them.

Kiba would be alright. His Inuzuka "pack" or team mentality would mesh well with Naruto's attitude, and he seemed to be fairly hard working.

Shino would also be good, as he has considerable skills but doesn't let them affect his ego, and Naruto didn't find his bugs at all creepy.

Hinata…well, he wouldn't let himself get distracted thinking about her again, but suffice it to say that he knew quite a bit about her, and he would love…er like…er…he wouldn't mind working with her at all.

Shikamaru, well he was a genius, but his lazy attitude might be detrimental to the good of the group. Still, Naruto wouldn't mind having another bright mind on the team.

Choji was nice and would be easy to get along with. Naruto firmly believed that Choji could be even better if he lost a little weight, but he wouldn't butt into Choji's personal choices unless they affected the team.

Ino had some considerable skills with her family jutsus, but her blind fan-girl devotion to Sasuke was detrimental to her attitude. Naruto believed, given a few years to mature, Ino would become a strong kunoichi, but not until then.

Speaking of Sasuke devoted fan-girls, there was always Sakura. She had some book-smarts, but had shown no other talents. Of all the kunoichis in the class, she was Naruto's least favorite. He had initially seen her as "the popular girl" and had asked her out on numerous occasions in a futile effort to become part of the in-crowd, but that had been months ago. Now that he had gotten to see her more, he had, for good reason, abandoned that effort. Besides, she would always reject him in favor of a chance with "Sasuke-kun" even though he would rebuke all her efforts on that front.

Finally there was the Uchiha-teme himself. Sasuke had some skills, there was no denying this. He wasn't rookie of the year for no reason, but his attitude was terrible. He combined the arrogance of the Uchiha clan, the cold-heartedness of "an avenger," which he claimed himself to be, and the I-survived-a-tragedy-give-me-everything-cause-I-deserve-it attitude that pissed off Naruto to no end. Kami knows Naruto had been through a childhood that was just as bad if not worse, and had nothing handed to him because of it, not that he would except it should it be offered. He had earned everything he had, and would continue to earn everything he had, including the Hokage title he so desperately desired. The result was that Sasuke had no respect for others, but believed they should treat him as a god, giving him everything he wants because he deserved it. For Naruto, this just made him sick. He sincerely hoped he didn't have Sasuke as a teammate, or else he might have to beat that attitude out of him…literally.

He finally reached the academy and saw that some of the class, including Hinata and Sasuke, were already there. He sat down in his normal seat, which unfortunately was right next to the teme today. He looked back and saw Hinata in her normal seat in the back of the class smiling at him and blushing quite a bit.

'Good, she seems to be feeling better today. She certainly seems a lot happier. I'm glad that she's happy. I hated seeing her cry yesterday.' His thoughts probably would've started on a tangent about her right then if they weren't interrupted by two loud, high-pitched female voices that could only belong to Ino and Sakura. The two were in a heated argument regarding, what else, but Sasuke. When they saw Naruto sitting next to Sasuke, they both stopped their arguing and turned to him, yelling in unision "Get away from Sasuke-kun!" before double-teaming him and pushing him out of his seat. They then proceeded to start arguing again, this time about which one of them deserved to sit in the seat they had just kicked Naruto out of. They stopped again when they heard a murmuring from the floor.

"Idiots…"

"What did you say?!" they yelled, again in unison.

"I said you're idiots if you really believed that it mattered who sat next to him. If you took any time to study Sasuke as a person, you'd see that he values strength and power over anything else. For you to have any chance at 'winning his heart,' you'd have to become strong kunoichi, so that you'd be at his level, and when sparring and training could help him become stronger. If you as his 'fan-girls' do not see this about the one you value so highly, then you must truly be idiots." With that, Naruto left to find another seat, which he found in the back next to Hinata.

The two looked stunned, as did the rest of the class. Even Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this.

'The dobe said something smart?' thought the Uchiha. 'Genjutsu? No, I'm too smart to fall for something like that.'

In her anger, Sakura lashed out at Naruto. "What are you doing here anyway? You didn't even graduate, so there."

"Again, you fail to study things closely. For someone who is so smart, that is a stupid thing to do."

The class snickered while Sakura gave an annoyed look.

"Look," Naruto continued, pointing at his forehead. "This is a hitai-ite. If I have one, than obviously I did in fact graduate."

"But how? You failed the exam."

As if in answer to that question, Iruka stepped into the room and called for attention.

"Class, yesterday, Mizuki attempted to betray the village. For his help in the capture of the traitor, as well as his learning of a jonin level bunshin-based jutsu, Uzumaki Naruto has been awarded the status of genin, which luckily evens out the teams for this year." There were murmurs around the room about how the supposed 'dead-last' of the class had managed to capture a chuunin and use a jonin level jutsu in the process. Once the chatter quieted down, Iruka continued. "Good, now that that's settled, I can announce the teams. Teams 1 will be…" Iruka continued listing names until he got to team 7.

"Team 7 will consist of Uchiha Sasuke," as all the kunoichi in the class (minus Hinata of course) hold their breath, "Haruno Sakura," followed by a lone squeal of delight and many moans of disappointment, "and Uzumaki." At this point, all three of them thought in unison 'Aw damn, why him?' with Sasuke and Naruto also thinking 'Why her?' in addition. "Your jonin instructor will be Hatake Kakashi." Meanwhile, Hinata let out a breath she didn't even know she had been holding.

'Well, he's not on my team, but at least I don't have to worry about competition. Wait, why did I think that? Competition for what?" As she pondered this for a moment, the next team was called out.

"Team 8 will be Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba. Your joinin instructor will be Yuhei Kurenai."

'Ok, so we'll be a tracking and surveillance ream, powerful in defense and close to mid range offense. I like Sino and Kiba, and Kurenai-sensei has been nice to me in the past. There's no Naruto-kun, but not bad,' thought Hinata.

"Team is still in rotation from last year, so we'll move on to team 10, which will consist of Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji and Nara Shikamaru. Your jounin instructor will be Sarutobi Asuma."

'I'm with those two?' thought Ino, her thoughts plain across her face. 'Why couldn't I be with Sasuke-kun?'

Shikamaru and Choji looked at each other. 'We're with her?' they thought together, before hanging their heads in defeat.

As the teams separated to meet with their varying instructors, Naruto and Hinata shared one final glance before turning away and blushing. This time, however, Iruka saw the exchange and remembered Naruto's comment from the previous night.

'So Naruto, that's why you were worried about her last night, and you don't even realize it. To have such a strong connection at such a young age…Those two will need to be watched. I will say this, Naruto. You have great taste.'

A moment later, Hinata was outside meeting with her team while Naruto was inside with his team waiting for a very late instructor. While he was waiting, Naruto was deep in thought. He had a hard decision to make. For the majority of his life, Naruto had kept his intelligence and skills a secret, but he was on a team now. Eventually, they'd end up in a life or death situation, where the knowledge of a teammates abilities can determine the winner. Not to mention that if he wants their trust, and teammates should, it would not be good to hide something like that from them. He still wouldn't tell them his big secret, but his abilities, he wasn't sure.

'Maybe my new sensei will have some insight.' As if on cue, Hatake Kakashi appeared in front of them in a poof of smoke, having just shunshined into the room.

"Yo," he said. "I'm your new sensei, Hatake Kakashi, or Kakashi-sensei to you. We're going to have a team meeting, so meet me on the roof." With that, he shunshined out of the room again, leaving all 3 genins in the room were to think, 'What's with this guy?' Five minutes later, they were all on the roof.

"Okay, so let's start out with introductions: likes, dislikes, goals, etc. I'll go first. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like many things. I also dislike many things. My goals and hobbies are my own." At this, the 3 genin sweat dropped. "Alright, you next blondie."

"Ano, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto. "Before that, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"How important is trust and honesty between teammates?"

'That was unexpected. This may ruin the test tomorrow, but he did ask.'

"Trust is very important in teams, as is honesty. There is a phrase my sensei used when he taught us. 'Those who don't follow orders are trash. Those who betray their teammates are lower than that.' Does that answer your question?"

"Hai, arigatou. Now, I'll introduce myself . My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like training, reading, and talking with my friends, especially this one girl."

Sakura was about to hit him, when she realized he wasn't referring to her. 'I wonder who it is.'

"I dislike people who prejudge a person without getting to know them and arrogant people who want everything handed to them without being willing to work for it," he continued as he shot a glare towards Sasuke. "My hobbies include reading up on historical shinobis and battles, getting stronger, and learning new jutsus. My dream is to be the greatest Hokage Konoha has ever had, and I intend to work hard to achieve that dream."

Kakashi nodded, impressed with the maturity of the new genin. Sasuke and Sakura were wide eyed at learning that about Naruto.

"So you like reading, huh?" asked Kakashi rhetorically. "Read anything interesting?"

"Well, mostly I've read up on the Hokages and the Great Ninja Wars. I've also learned about the three sannin. Though, now that I know you're our jounin sensei, Kakashi-sensei, I'll read up on you too, if you don't mind."

"By all means. Now, you next miss…"

"Haruno Sakura. My likes are Sasuke-kun. My dislikes are anyone who doesn't like Sasuke-kun or try to steal him away from me. My goal is to prove myself worthy of being his girlfriend."

'She certainly has a one-tracked mind,' though Kakashi. 'But her desire to prove herself may help her to grow stronger, even if for the wrong reasons.'

'There may be hope for her yet,' thought Naruto.

"Ok, and finally you," said Kakashi, pointing to Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like getting stronger and anyone that helps me to get stronger. My dislikes are anyone who gets in the way of my training or insults my clan. I have two goals. One is to kill a certain person, while the other is to revive my clan, with some help of course." At this statement, his eyes made a very furtive glance towards Sakura. They moved so fast that only Kakashi with his experience eyes was able to see them move.

'Another one-tracked mind, but as he's willing to accept help, there's still hope for him. As strange as it is, it may be the supposed 'dead last' of the class that may pull this team together.

"Ok, now that introductions are over, we have no more to do today. However, tomorrow will be your genin exam, so we'll be meeting at 8am at training ground seven."

"Excuse me sensei," piped in Saskura. "Didn't we already have our genin exam?"

"Ah, but that's where you are wrong," answered Kakashi. "That was merely a test to see whether or not you were ready to take the genin exam. You need to be at a certain skill level to take the exam. Otherwise there would be a good chance you'd be injured or worse while taking the exam."

The three genin looked satisfied with the answer but disappointed.

"So you mean we're not genin yet? We're still not shinobi?" asked Naruto.

"Oh, you are shinobi, your hitai-ite proves that. However, your current rank is below that of genin, and has no real designation. Essentially, you are rookies." Again the genin were satisfied but disappointed. "Well, if that is it for questions, we're done here. Just be sure to be there at 8am tomorrow morning. Oh, and don't eat breakfast or else you might throw up. Bai."

With that, he shunshined away again in a poof of smoke. The three genins went their separate ways. Sakura went to daydream, Sasuke to brood, and Naruto to train.

'No reason to waste a good chance to train,' he thought. 'Maybe Lee and his sensei will let me join them in training today, if they're not doing team training.'

Indeed, when he found Lee and Gai, they were training alone and let Naruto train with them. Gai helped improve Narutos stances and forms, as well as giving him a starter weight set to help him become stronger and faster. Then Naruto sparred with Lee. Comparably, Naruto was nowhere near as strong or fast as Lee, but he was creative, pulling off-the-wall moves that kept Lee constantly on edge. Plus, using Kage bunshins, he was able to give Lee the experience of fighting many opponents simultaneously, so they each got something out of the training session. At 5 o'clock, Naruto called it quits.

"I could keep going for a while, but I must prepare for my genin exam with Kakashi-sensei tomorrow."

"Ah, so you got my eternal rival for your sensei, huh?"

"Why do you call him your 'eternal rival,' Gai-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Kakashi and I have known each other for a long time. We're good friends and have sparred on many occasions, but our styles are very different. Mine revolves around taijutsu and physical strength, while his revolves around ninjutsu and chakra control. Throughout the years, we've constantly tried to prove our fighting style is better, but each time we win one, we lose the next. Thus, he is my eternal rival."

"So, if you are good friends with him, can you tell me anything about him?" asked Naruto.

"Though his strength lays in ninjutsu, he is proficient at tai and genjutsu. He also uses psychology in his attacks."

"What do you mean, he uses psychology?"

"He confuses his opponent by misdirecting them; then at the opportune moment, he is able to get an easier victory. He is also constantly late, though I will not tell you why. Ask him yourself when you have earned his respect and he might tell you. I will tell you his biggest weakness is his addiction to those Icha Icha Paradise books."

"Arigato, Gai-sensei. I believe what you have told me will help tomorrow at the exam."

"You're welcome. Now go and defeat my eternal rival! And let your youthful flames burn brightly!" he yelled as Naruto sped off towards Ichiraku for a quick dinner before going to the library. He had studying to do.

* * *

Hinata was standing outside of the academy. She had just gotten over the blush from seeing Naruto in class, having apparently graduated. She was so glad he passed that she didn't realize she was staring at him until he turned and stared at her too. This led to the blush that she was trying to fight back before meeting with her team. Luckily for her, she was able to.

"Hello, my name is Yuhei Kurenai and I will be the jounin instructor for team 8. Before we begin, I believe introductions are in order. Tell me your name, likes, dislikes, goals, etc. I'll go first. I already told you my name. My likes are gardening, drinking tea, and reading, mostly fiction and romances. My dislikes are bullies and those who think kunoichis can't be just as strong as their male counterparts. My goal is to become a genjutsu mistress and as respected of a kunoichi as Lady Tsunade. Let's see, how about you next?" she asked, pointing to Kiba.  
"My name is Inuzuka Kiba, and this is my dog, Akamaru. My likes are playing aroung with Akamaru. My dislikes are cats. My goal is to become head of my clan."

"Straight enough," commented Kurenai. "So how about you next?" she asked pointing to Shino. "I'm guessing you're of the Aburame clan."

"You're guess is quite logical and accurate. My name is Aburame Shino. My likes are training my Kikai bugs and finding new bugs. My dislikes are those that kill bugs for no reason. My goal is to surpass my father in strength and control of my Kikai bugs and eventually succeed him as clan head."

"Another straight shooter, I like that. And now for the other kunoichi of the group."

"Ano, my name is Hyuuga Hinata, of the Hyuuga clan. My likes are flower pressing, drinking tea, like you Kurenai-sensei, and ano, maybe this one boy, though I don't really know yet. My dislikes are those who put down others. My goal is to become a strong clan head and change my clan for the better, as I believe that some of our traditions, including the caged bird seal, are tearing our family in two."

'She has a caring heart and lots of potential. She will go far if she can just build up her confidence in herself. I wonder who that boy is though. I'll have to ask her later, over tea.'

"Alright then, since introductions are out of the way, let me tell you about tomorrow. As per tradition, you will take your genin exam tomorrow, and before you ask, this is not whether you can become a genin potentially. This is a test of maturity. That is all I can say. So, take the rest of the day off and be at training ground 8 at 10am, and don't worry. From what I've seen, all three of you should have no problem passing. Until then, bai. Oh! Hinata, would you like to come with me to get some tea later today?"

"Ano, that sounds wonderful, sensei."

"Good. Meet me at Heian Teas1 near that Ichiraku Ramen, say at 4:30, ok?"

"Ok, adiosu Kurenai-sensei."

With that, all 4 went their separate ways. Hinata decided to train for the hours before her tea meeting with Kurenai, so she headed to a little known waterfall she had found earlier that week. Since she was a genin, she would not be escorted anymore.

When she got to the waterfall, she took off her shoes and stepped out onto the water. As a Hyuuga, she had trained her whole life to have perfect control of her chakra, and water walking was a very good way to train for this. She spent a few hours practicing her katas and forms, as well as working on her agility and reflexes. When it was time to go meet Kurenai, she got off the water, put on her shoes, and grabbed her things.

She took a leisurely walk over to Ichiraku and saw the tea shop Kurenai had mentioned right across the street. Kurenai was waiting there for her at an outside table. As Hinata sat down at her seat, a waiter approached and asked for their orders. Kurenai ordered something called "Kyoto," which she explained was a green tea with some cherry blossoms in it. Having never been to this tea shop before, Hinata yielded to Kurenai's judgment and ordered the same. When the tea arrived, she was not disappointed. It was very good tea. Once they sipped their tea a bit, Kurenai opened up the conversation.

"So, Hinata, there was another reason I invited you here. I wanted to ask you more about this boy you might like." Hinata almost choked on her tea and started blushing furiously.

'That was an awfully strong reaction for someone she MIGHT like.'

"W-What do y-you want to know?"

'She didn't stutter before. This could be bad, or it could be really good.'

"Well, I wanted to know who he was, and why you think you might like him."

"Ano, he is…Oh!" With that, Hinata blushed again and turned her head away. Kurenai turned around in her seat to see a familiar blonde-haired boy walking towards Ichiraku Ramen, having apparently not seen the two women.

"I take it that it is Uzumaki Naruto," she said, turning back to Hinata. Hinata just nodded. "I guess that answers my first question. Now, why do you think you might like him?"

"Ano, I'm not sure. 'Like' just seems to be the best word to describe what I feel."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when he is happy, I feel happy. When he is sad, I feel sad for him. When he was outside the academy yesterday crying because he failed, I started weeping uncontrollably. I feel happy when he succeeds and sad when he fails. He also seems to be on my mind all the time, and whenever I see him, I start to blush."

'This is much more than a simple crush. From the way she describes it and the passion she exudes when she talks about him, love makes more sense than any other possible explanation. But, she isn't old enough to deal with that realization yet. I'll have to stall it off.'

"Do you know what I am feeling, Kurenai-sensei?"

"I do, but I'm afraid to tell you yet. I'm not sure your ready for the seriousness of the answer." Hinata considered this for a moment, but shook her head.

"Kurenai-sensei, with all due respect, I have these feelings and I will continue to have them even if I can't describe them accurately. What if I come up with the wrong answer and don't act on them appropriately?"

'She's right. If she thinks this is just a simple crush, then she might give up on something great. I don't know though.'

"Are you sure this is what you want Hinata?"

"Hai, I am."

'Kami, help her and forgive me for ending the innocence of her childhood.'

"2 words: true love."

'True love? I love Naruto?' thought Hinata. As she recalled all the times she'd seen him and the feelings she'd felt, she saw him exiting Ichiraku, apparently done with his meal. This time, when she saw him, everything fit into place.

"You're right. I do love him"

"I love Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

_The Next Day_

Naruto was sitting beneath a tree at training ground 7 meditating. It was 8am, though he knew his sensei wouldn't be there for a couple of hours. He had spent the previous night in the library under a henge. He had been under a henge for two reasons. One, he probably wouldn't have been allowed in otherwise because of his 'tenant.' Second, it helped keep up the façade that he was stupid if he was never seen in the library. He had studied up on his sensei in hopes of gaining an advantage in the genin exam. He had learned quite a bit.

_Hatake Kakashi was a bit of a prankster as a child because he enjoyed laughing at the humiliation of others, as long as they weren't seriously injured. There is no evidence that this characteristic has lessened since then._

'If that were true, then he would enjoy watching us puke the breakfast we ate before the exam. Why would he tell us not to eat?'

_Hatake Kakashi is known for his psychological attacks during combat. He is known for misdirecting his opponents to gain an advantage over them._

'So he told us not to eat because we should, but we would believe him as our jounin instructor. It was slightly underhanded to use his position as leverage for weakening us for his exam. And what about that exam?'

_After the tragic loss of his teammate, Uchiha Obito, Hatake Kakashi started quoting his sensei often on the importance of teamwork. He believed, and continues to believe, that teamwork and trust is the key to any victory as a team._

'If that is the case, this test must be to see if we can work as a team. That will make passing more difficult. This will have to be treated delicately.'

At this point, his teammates arrived. Naruto could tell by the way they carried themselves that they had not had breakfast either.

"Sasuke, Sakura!" he yelled out to them as they came over.

"What do you want, dobe?" asked Sasuke.

"Look, I know we don't see eye to eye, Sasuke, but we're a team now, like it or not. Today, we will be taking this test as a team, and if we want to pass, we're going to have to work as a team. Sasuke, a strong shinobi can draw on the strengths of his comrades to achieve success on a mission."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly at this, signaling that Naruto's words had struck home.

"And Sakura, you want Sasuke to pass, don't you?" asked Naruto, playing on her devotion.

"Of course I do," she responded.

"Then you must help him pass and you must pass as well. So must I. If any of us fail, the team fails, and if the team fails, we all fail, including Sasuke. In order for any of us to pass, we must all pass."

Sakura just nodded in understanding.

"Now that we're all in agreement, let me tell you everything I've learned so that we can come up with an effective plan."

He spent the next few minutes describing everything he had learned from Gai and the library as well as the conclusions about the exam he had made.

"So that's why you convinced us to work as a team?" asked Sakura.

"Yes and no. I do believe that the point of this test will be to see if we can work as a team, but even if it isn't, teamwork can only help us and will be necessary once we start going on missions."

Sasuke and Sakura nodded in agreement.

"Now, I believe the first thing to do is to get us all some breakfast so we'll be ready. Kakashi-sensei probably won't be here for another hour at least, so is either of your places close, or should we go to a restaurant?"

They decided to go to Sakura's house, as she was the only one who actually had a house (Sasuke moved out of the Uchiha district after the incident with Itachi). During breakfast, they discussed various strategies for taking down their sensei, as they assumed the test would involve. Afterwards, they headed back to training ground 7 and started warming up. They were just finishing their stretches when Kakashi announced his presence.

"Yo," he said casually.

"You're late!" shouted Sakura.

"Gomen, I got lost on the road of life," he replied.

"Liar!" screamed Sakura.

"Calm down Sakura," said Naruto. "It's not like we weren't expecting it. We've only been here for a half an hour."

"Wait, you've only been here for a half an hour? But I told you to be here at 8 and its now 10."

"True, but we figured with your chronic tardiness that you wouldn't show up til about now."

"And how did you know that I would be late?"

"Gai-sensei," replied Naruto. "He told me after we were done training yesterday."

"Why were you training with Gai?"

"My morning jogging partner and friend, Rock Lee, is his student and introduced him to me as being an expert at taijutsu, which I needed a lot of improvement on."

"So you saw a weakness in yourself and sought to improve it?"

"Yeah, which reminds me, do you know any genjutsu masters?"

"The best one I can recommend is Yuhei Kurenai, instructor of team 8."

"Arigato, Kakashi-sensei.

'This kid. To find one's weaknesses and then train to improve them is chuunin level thinking and to see out experts in the field shows humility and wisdom. Then there is the rumor I heard about an A-ranked kinjutsu that he managed to learn, but that couldn't be true, could it?'

"Anyways, let's get this thing started, shall we?" With this, he pulls out an alarm clock, 3 bento boxes and 2 bells. "This is your test. You each have to get a bell from me. Anyone who does not get a bell will have to go back to the academy."

"But sensei, there's only 2 bells," noted Sakura.

"That's right, which means one of you will fail. You'll have to compete to get a spot."

"But there's no such thing as a two man cell."

"It's not typical, but it can happen."

"No, it can't," stated Naruto. "Article 3, paragraph 4 of the Jourei no Konohagakure no Sato (rules of the hidden village in the leaves) states that any genin squad of Konoha must contain 3 genins and 1 jounin instructor. Nothing else is allowed, unless there is an apprenticeship, in which case there is normally only one apprentice per master. If there is more than one apprentice, there is usually a senior apprentice who has been with the master long enough to take on their own responsibilities but is not yet a full master, and a junior apprentice who is either just starting out or has not earned the acknowledgement of the master to take on responsibilities in that field (A/N: For example, in the Anime/Manga, Tsunade would be the master of Shizune and Sakura, with Shizune being the senior apprentice). There is also a note that no one below the rank of Hokage or Sannin may take on an apprentice before leading a genin squad, unless with the permission of the current Hokage. No exceptions are allowed," Naruto finished with a smirk at seeing the looks on the others' faces.

Sasuke and Sakura were just staring at him, with their chins nicely planted in the soil below them.

'The dobe memorized Konoha's shinobi code?' thought Sasuke.

'Damn,' thought Kakashi, his annoyed expression hidden behind his ever present mask. 'I was really hoping that would get them. Oh well, how about this?'

"Fine then," Kakashi started, as he put one of the bells away. "Now, only one of you will pass. If you do, you'll become my apprentice, which I have permission from the Hokage to take on," Kakashi lied smoothly.

"No deal," said Naruto.

"And why not? Some other part of the ninja code perhaps?" asked Kakashi.

"On the contrary," replied Naruto, a serious expression on his face. "I don't want to be your apprentice."

Now Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi looked shocked. Kakashi was also miffed at the apparent insult of a genin not wanting to be apprenticed to him.

"At least not yet," Naruto hastily continued, suddenly aware of the expressions of his teammates and sensei. "This has anything to do with you specifically, Kakashi-sensei. I just don't want to be apprenticed to anyone right now, for a number of reasons. First of all, I want to be on a team for a bit. It would be a nice change to have people to trust in and be trusted by. I've never really had that relationship with anyone. You know, like a family…" Naruto whispered the last part, a tear nearly forming in his eye. He wiped it away before anyone could notice. Kakashi saw this and gave him a sympathetic look. "Besides," Naruto went on, a little louder now. "I don't want to limit myself. You are renowned for your jutsus and chakra control, but though you have skills in tai and genjutsu, you yourself admitted that you are no master of either. I train with Gai-sensei because if someone seals off my chakra or otherwise drains me of it, I want to be able to strike back, or at the very least have the strength and endurance to get myself and my teammates to safety so that we can regroup. Similarly, I want to train myself in genjutsu, kenjutsu, and even fuinjutsu, should they ever be the tipping point of a battle. I will admit though, training in fuinjutsu will be difficult as there are few masters. The only one I know of is hard to track down, and yet he somehow manages to write and publish his own series of books. A series you are in fact a fan of I believe, Kakashi-sensei."

'He wants to train from Jiraiya-sama? Good luck, kid.'

"Maybe sometime in the future, when the foundations are set, I will apprentice myself to a master so that I can become a master myself, but not right now and certainly not until I figure out what field I want to be a master in. So, if those were the conditions of this exam, than I would forfeit right now. However, that does not matter, seeing as how the Hokage did not give you permission to take on an apprentice before leading a genin squad."

"Why would you think that?"

"Simple. I asked him last night, and I trust the word of someone I have known my whole life more than that of someone I just met yesterday."

'Damn, this kid is good. That's two strategies he's seen through. Just who is Uzumaki Naruto? Oh well. This is my last strategy. If this doesn't work, they pass.'

"Fine then. No more games or threats. One bell. If one of you gets it, you all pass, but whoever gets the bell is the only one to eat lunch while the other two are tied up." He stopped, listening for the unmistakable sound of stomachs grumbling. When he heard no such sound, he looked at them puzzled.

'Didn't I tell them not to eat breakfast?'

"If you're wondering why our stomachs aren't growling at your ultimatum," Naruto started, as if in response to Kakashi's thoughts. "It would be because all three of us ate breakfast this morning. When I researched you in the library last night, I read of your pension for pulling pranks in your youth because you enjoyed the humiliation of others. From this I was able to deduce that you would enjoy seeing us puke and would not have told us not to eat breakfast. Thus, you were trying to see if we would blindly follow orders, even if it would weaken the team and our chance of success, so we didn't. Sakura and Sasuke agreed with my assessment, so we went to Sakura's house to have a good team breakfast."

'He saw through that too?!'

"Kakashi-sensei, I suggest you give up and pass us," threatened Sakura.

"And if I don't?"

"Sasuke, you know a good katon jutsu, right?" asked Naruto. Sasuke nodded with a smirk. "Then you think you could burn this?" Naruto held up a familiar orange covered book.

Kakashi immediately went wide eyed at this, at least in the uncovered one.

"But," Kakashi started as he reached into his pack and pulled out an identical orange book. "I have it right…" At this the book disappeared in a puff of smoke. "…here? Nani? What happened?"

"Kage bunshin, henge, kawarimi," answered Naruto.

"When?" asked Kakashi, amazed at the turn of events.

"As we were talking. I saw which volume you were reading yesterday and that you weren't very far along in it. I found it at the bookstore so I could study it, the outside only as I am not a pervert, so I could make an accurate henge. It was in my pouch when you got here. As soon as you got here I had another clone henged into a leaf fall onto the book. When you put it into the pouch, you put the clone in as well. The clone performed the kawarimi with the book in my bag the dispersed itself. I figured you might notice the momentary shift in weight, so I kept you going until you were adequately distracted. The moment came when the apprentice tactic failed."

"But how did you know about Sasuke's katon jutsu? It is rare for any genin to know elemental jutsus, though Uchihas are known for early skill with katon jutsus."

"I told him this morning," spoke up Sasuke. "I told him as we were discussing ways of taking you down."

"So this whole thing was a setup? You were just waiting for me to drop my guard?" The three genin nodded their heads. "Then I suppose I have no choice. You all pass."

The three genin smiled, knowing they had bested their sensei and had earned their titles as official genin. Though Sasuke's smile looked more like a smirk, it was a smile nonetheless.

'This team has a lot of potential. Sasuke has power. Sakura has brains and chakra control. Naruto…is the most unpredictable shinobi I have ever met. His attitude bears a striking resemblance to Minato-sensei. If he continues down this path, his dreams of becoming Hokage might not be too far off.'

"Well, since we're all here, how about you all spar me, so I can accurately guage your skills and direct your training."

After an hour, Kakashi let Sasuke and Sakura go but asked Naruto to stay back a bit.

"So Naruto, let me ask the question that will be on the mind of every shinobi you face. How is it that the 'dead last' of the academy, who failed the genin graduation exam 3 times outsmarted a jounin, ex-ANBU captain, while simultaneously using a kawarimi between 2 henged Kage bunshins, which was obviously done seal-less as the henged were of inanimate objects?"

"In order to answer your question," Naruto replied with a somewhat smug smile on his face, "let me ask you: what is a shinobi's most important skill?"

"Deception, everybody knows that."

"Exactly. What I'm doing is the very basic of deception. I mean, if you lived in a village full of people who wanted you dead, would you really give them a reason to attack in force because 'the demon is getting too strong and must be stopped.' The weaker I seem, the longer I live." Kakashi nodded solemnly.

'How bad has this kid had it? He's only 12, and it sounds as if he's already lived longer than I have.'

"Ano, by the way, Kakashi-sensei, can I ask you a personal favor? Can you go with me to get some new shinobi clothes and gear?"

Kakashi looked confused at this.

"Naruto, aren't you a little old for you to need help picking out clothes?"

"It's not that. I mean, I know what I want, it's just…"

Kakashi was stunned at the change he saw in Naruto's attitude. Whereas before, he was happy, eager and confident, now he was downcast, depressed, and fearful of what was to come. Kakashi wondered what could have possibly triggered this sudden behavioral mood swing. Then it clicked.

"You don't want to deal with the shopkeepers alone?" Naruto just nodded.

'How bad has this kid had it,' Kakashi again wondered. 'I mean, I know he is the container for the Kyuubi, but certainly, the villagers haven't been that cruel to him, have they?'

"As it were, I needed some new equipment, so I'll tag along," Kakashi lied, intent on finding out just how bad it really was.

The two headed off towards a local clothing store that specializes in shinobi wear. Kakashi observed that the closer the two got to the store, the more nervous Naruto got. He was about to find out why.

* * *

Hinata had arrived at training ground 8 at 9:30. She always liked to be early to the academy, and she would continue to do so with her new sensei. Plus, the extra half an hour gave her some time to do some well needed stretches. 15 minutes later, Shino arrived and started performing stretches of his own. At 9:55, Kiba arrived and started talking about what the test might entail.

"I wonder what it's going to be," remarked Kiba. "I hope it's not too dangerous."

"Given our sensei's attitude toward us yesterday and that she is a relatively newly promoted jounin with her first genin team, I doubt she will make us do something that she knows might leave us permanently harmed," came the reply from the stoic and normally quiet Shino. With that, the 3 genin waited the 5 minutes until Kurenai arrived.

"Ohayo," spoke Kurenai as she literally landed on the scene. "Are all three of you ready for your genin exam?"

"Hai," came the unison reply.

"Alright then, here we go." As she finished, Kurenai started going through a few handsigns until finally she called out "Unmei Baransu no jutsu!" (Fate balance jutsu)

Suddenly the area surrounding the three genin disappeared and was replaced with an infinite darkness. Each genin looked down to see that they were each standing on a platform big enough for them to stand on but nothing more. Below the platform they could see the blazing red magma of an active volcano, the smoke rising up had enough heat to make them start to sweat.

"You are now standing on the balance of fate," called out Kurenai from somewhere they could not see. "Each of you is standing on a platform. If you look forward you will see that all three connect in the middle and this center point is perched atop a vertical pole. If any of you move too much, the balance will become unbalanced and you will all plummet to your death, courtesy of the active volcano you are now above. Now I want you each to slowly look behind you. Be careful, or you will tip the scale." The three genin nodded; the fear was ever present in their eyes as they turned to look behind them. "As you can see, there is an area behind you that is safe. If you can get to that other platform, you will be able to escape, and you will have proved that you deserve to be on this team. If you don't, well, let's just say you don't want to remain on the platform for too long. Even if it stays balanced, the magma below will eventually start to rise. If you cannot escape within 10 minutes, the heat will become too much, and you will be burned, causing you to fail this exercise. However, if any of you tries to leave the platform, the balance will tip due to the lack of wait, and your two teammates will fall. Whoever survives this will become my apprentice. Whoever fails will be going back to the academy. Do you all understand?" The three genin slowly nodded, the same amount of fear still evident. "Alright then, you have ten minutes to escape. Good luck." With that, Kurenai's voice trailed off in echoes and the area was once again covered with the deathly silence of before. The only thing the three genin could hear was the boiling of the hot liquid beneath their feet.

'This should be a good test for them,' thought Kurenai. 'It will test their courage, their ability to overcome fear, and their teamwork. I've given them four ways of getting out. If they've memorized the Shinobi code, they will know that I can't take on an apprentice and so the test is flawed. If they overcome their fears enough to use their abilities, such as Hinata's eyes, Shino's bugs, or Kiba's nose, they will be able to see through the genjutsu and escape using a basic genjutsu release. If they can time themselves perfect enough to all leap off the platforms simultaneously, they will be able to get off without tipping the platforms. The last way is perhaps the easiest and yet hardest way to succeed. They can do nothing. If they do nothing for the full 10 minutes, as in nobody tries to get off the platform, they will be saying that they are willing to die as a team, and that will prove their loyalty and teamwork to me. Any of these tactics will assure them of victory. It's all up to them.'

The silence around the genin permeated for the first 3 minutes until Kiba decided to speak up, mostly out of fear than of anything else.

"We need to get out of here!" he shouted in fear.

"I agree," came Sino's reply. "But we cannot let ourselves become afraid or jittery. I still do not believe Kurenai-senei will try to harm us."

"How can you say that, Shino?" questioned Kiba. "We're standing over a volcano. That means burns. That means injuries."

"True, but she wouldn't have given us this test if there wasn't a way out of here."

"Yeah, she gave us a way. We have to decide who will be the most beneficial to Konoha. The other two just have to sacrifice."

"No!" shouted Hinata, surprised at her own voice. "Ano, I think if we try, we can all get out of here safely." Hinata's voice had quickly returned to normal.

"I agree," said Shino. "Now let us stop thinking about sacrificing ourselves and figure a way out of here. We only have 5 minutes left."

They talked about trying to jump simultaneously, as it was the obvious choice, but since they had never practiced together, they did not know each other's reaction times and so this could not guarantee success. Unfortunately, the only one who had memorized the shinobi code was Hinata, the information having been drilled into her as heiress to the Hyuuga clan, but she was in no mental state to make the connection. The same reasoning could be applied for why she had not as of yet activated her kekei-genkai. Frankly, they were each too scared to think completely clearly on the issue. Even Shino, though he showed none of it, was quite fearful of falling into the volcano, and as such, he did not hear his bugs telling him that it was a genjutsu. This left only one thing that they could think of.

"So we are in agreement. We stay right where we are and do not move for the remainder of the time," spoke Shino.

"We will face the end of the test as a team. Either we all pass or we all fail," said Kiba.

"Come what may, we will not abandon each other. We are not scared little children. We are shinobi of Konoha," continued Hinata.

With a confident look on their faces, the three genin waited patiently as the time ticked away. None of them knew what was to happen, and each was scared of what the end would entail. Nut none of them would flinch or move, less they accidentally cause the balance to tip. They would face this challenge head on, with the bravery of true shinobis. When their time was up, they heard Kurenai's voice once again echoing amidst the smoke and ash.

"You are all still on the platforms, and now the time has expired. Are you all prepared to go back to the academy, having failed this exercise?" The three genin nodded, though this time no fear was evident in their eyes. "Very well then. Kai!" she shouted, dispelling the genjutsu. As the three genin looked on, the grassy field rematerialized around them and they could see Kurenai looking at them, a smile gracing her face as she walked towards them. "In that case, you all pass. Welcome to Team 8."

The three genin looked at each other, then at Kurenai, then back at each other.

"What do you mean we passed?" asked Kiba.

"Just that. You passed the test. You are now officially genin of Team 8."

"I don't understand. How did we pass?" asked Hinata.

"This was a test of teamwork and of trust. I had to see if you would abandon each other when things got tough or when you got scared. I had to know that when we go off to fight an enemy, you will not run and let your teammates to fend for themselves, and you proved that too me. Though, had you overcome your fear enough to notice the genjutsu or note the fact that as a new jounin I can't take on an apprentice yet, you also would have passed." All three hung their heads for not noticing the genjutsu and Hinata for not remembering that part of the code under the pressure. "Still, be happy. You passed. You did what was required and you have nothing to be ashamed of. This just means that next time you are put in a life or death situation, which trust me won't be for a while, you'll have that much more drive to overcome your fears. Now, as a reward for passing my test, you have the rest of the day off. Rest, relax, and get something good to eat. Tomorrow we start training and doing missions, and then you won't have quite as much time on your hands to have fun. So enjoy the rest of the day, and I will see you all tomorrow at 10am." With that, she puffed into a cloud of smoke and disappeared. Each of the three went their separate ways. Kiba went home to play with Akamaru, Shino went to train with his Kikaichu, and Hinata decided she needed some new equipment, so she headed to a near shinobi store.

Just as she got to the store, Hinata saw Naruto and Kakashi walking in. Not wanting to be seen, she hid behind a tree that was close enough so that she could hear inside the store and with her Byakugan could see everything that happened. However, if she knew what she was going to witness, she might have decided not to eavesdrop on this particular conversation.

* * *

As Naruto and Kakashi entered the store, Kakashi thought he saw someone out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn't be sure. She disappeared right after he saw her.

'I wonder what she would be doing here.'

As soon as they were inside, Kakashi's line of thought was immediately shifted, thanks to a quick outburst by the shop's owner.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you never to come here again, demon! As if you deserved the right to be here, hah! You shouldn't even be alive! Go away, monster, before I call the ANBU and have you arrested!"

Kakashi was stunned and outraged at the man's comments.

"Sir, I believe you have made a mistake in harassing this boy."

"And what would you know about…Kakashi-san, nice to see you again. Care to see my wares today?" the shop owner asked, as his voice suddenly changed to a pleasant sounding one.

"No, I think not. Not after what I have witnessed here today. I don't think I'll be making my purchases here any time soon, if ever again." The man paled at this. "Also, I think I'll tell all of my old ANBU friends to shop somewhere else as well." By now, the man was a ghostly white. "I'll also be sure to tell the Hokage of this incident. I'm sure he will not be pleased." The man now looked absolutely death-like in his appearance. He then looked at Naruto, and suddenly his face became a deep red.

"YOU!" he shouted. "You did this to me. You turned my customer against me. I don't know how you did it, but I won't let you get away with it, you, you DEMON!" With that last scream, he launched himself at Naruto. He barely moved 3 inches before he was caught by Kakashi.

"You really shouldn't have attacked my student."

"Y-You're student?"

"Yes, as well as his teammates, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. By denying him decent shinobi gear, you weren't just putting his life at risk, you were putting mine, Sakura's and Sasuke's as well, and I don't think many people would be happy with you endangering the life of the last Uchiha."

At this point, the man was sweating bullets. He knew there was nothing he could do, except beg for mercy, which is exactly what he did.

"Please, Kakashi-san, accept my apologies. I was not thinking, and I did not know the Uchiha was his teammate."

"It shouldn't matter whether the Uchiha was his teammate or not. He is a shinobi of the leaf, and he is a hero for keeping the real demon at bay. I am not the one you should be apologizing to." The man said nothing. "Very well then. Naruto, come. I know another store that sells good shinobi clothes and we still have to get you some new weapons." Naruto nodded and followed as they left the store, unaware that the entire conversation had been overheard by Hinata, who was still hiding behind the tree. Having been deeply saddened by the words she heard spoken to Naruto, there were now tears falling from her eyes. Despite this, she endeavored to continue following Naruto. At the next store, though, things weren't much better.

"Here you are. Here's your kunai and shuriken, now pay me and get out."

"You mean to tell me that you are going to sell weapons that are obviously broken and rusted at twice the price?" asked Kakashi, having looked at the goods being sold to Naruto.

"It's no more than the monster deserves."

By the end of the day, Kakashi had come to realize a little bit of how bad Naruto had it. Over three quarters of the store wouldn't even let him in, with most of the rest overcharging him for the worst items in the store. Luckily, they managed to find a clothes shop that had just opened with the owner being an immigrant from Wave and a weapons shop owned by a man named Shimoyama Kenta, whose daughter was on team 9. Thus, Naruto was able to get everything including a new wardrobe. His new outfit was black pants with a dark blue stripe going down the side and a black undershirt with a dark forest green jacket. He also bought a similar outfit in tan and beige respectfully for any travels to Suna. For weapons, he stuck to the basic kunai and shuriken, though he wanted to buy a katana. He decided he would wait until he found a good instructor for using a katana before he bought it, as the sensei might want something specific or have recommendations.

Leaving the store, Naruto told his sensei that he wouldn't need anymore help and started heading home, but not before he sensed someone to his left behind a tree. Thinking it might be an enemy or an angry villager, he took out his kunai and turned towards the intruder. When he saw who it was, however, he immediately dropped the kunai.

"Hinata?" he asked a bit meekly as he put away his kunai. Hinata squeaked at being found out before blushingly profusely, her eyes still a bit red from the tears she had cried earlier. "What are you doing there?"

"I-I just wanted to see h-how you did on your test today." Now it was Naruto's turn to blush.

"We passed with flying colors. How about you?"

"W-We passed. I guess this means w-we'll be s-starting missions soon."

"Yeah." At this, silence ensued as each stared into the other's eyes. After a few moments, they each realized what they were doing and turned quickly.

"Well," spoke Naruto. "I guess I'll see you around sometime. Maybe we could together."

'He wants to train with me? But I'm to weak to train with him.'

"A-Arigato, but you wouldn't want to train with me. I'm too weak; I'd bring you down."  
Naruto was confused for a moment. Hinata was the strongest kunoichi he knew of his generation. Why would she think she was weak?

"Hinata, I don't know why you think you're weak, but I don't think so."

'He doesn't think I'm weak?'

"I would lo-, er, really like to train with you sometime."

Hinata was stunned for a moment, her eyes betraying her obvious astonishment at her crush, no the boy she loved, wanting to train with her.

"Arigato-gosaimasu, Naruto-kun," she said, as she bowed slightly to him.

Naruto smiled his fox-like smile and waved goodbye to his friend, while Hinata merely starting walking back to the Hyuuga compound, her mind still in a dream-like state from what she'd heard. Little did the two realize that Kakashi had witnessed the whole encounter, having stayed behind a bit.

'Naruto, you truly are the number one, most unpredictable shinobi I have ever met.'


	6. 3: Heart and Soul

**A/N: **Well, I'm finally back. It took me a while to get through this chapter, but it should be worth it. There's a little bit of everything in here. There's a little horror, some fluff, some insight, and a very touching scene towards the end. I think you'll enjoy it. Please though, review. With just about 40k words and 11k in this chapter alone, this story is starting to become bigger and better, and its only just beginning. The more encouragement I get, the faster I will write. Anyways, here it is, the 3rd chapter of _Sunrise_.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. If I did, Hinata would show up more often and the series would be called "Naruto and Hinata"

* * *

**Heart and Soul**

_It was dark. Dim lights flickered on and off, seemingly at random. There was water running along the floor and pipes covering the walls and ceiling. It was almost silent, except for the constant drip of one of the pipes leaking onto the floor._

_Naruto moved forward, his body acting of its own volition. He didn't know where he was or where he was going. He was scared, but he didn't show it. He had trained himself to not show emotions and this was no exception._

_A movement of air and an almost inaudible sound caught his attention. A moment later there was another movement and sound, this time going the opposite direction. They became a pattern: back and forth, back and forth. It almost sounded like…_

…_breathing._

_But who or what would be breathing so much as to move the air at levels Naruto could feel. Naruto quickly decided it couldn't be a who. No human produced that much air movement when breathing. No, it had to be an it, and a very large it at that._

_Naruto could feel himself begin to sweat. The little drops of water causally falling along his face and onto his clothing. Still, he kept moving forward, his body not responding to his thoughts. Besides, he had to know what was making those breathing sounds. What sort of a beast could cause them._

_He could see a little bit of light up ahead. It wasn't much, just an end to the hallway with more flickering lights. As he approached the end of the hallway, the sounds became louder. The movements of air became more powerful, though still staying at the same constant rate. _

_Whatever it was, it had to be sleeping, and Naruto feared what would happen should it wake. He was no longer curious as to what it could be. He just wanted to get away. Anything that made those sounds and that much air movement while sleeping would have to be dangerous should it wake. Whatever it was, it was large and it was powerful._

_Naruto had to get away._

_Try as he might, his body would not respond. He just kept moving forward. Now there was only 30 feet between him and the opening._

_20 feet._

_10 feet._

_As the hallway ended, Naruto saw the room that it had led him to. It was a large room, nearly 5 times the width of the hallway. Lengthwise, he couldn't tell as he couldn't see very far forward, but it seemed to be a very long room as well. A room this size could easily hold a beast of gigantic proportions. As he kept moving forward, something in front of Naruto grabbed his attention. It was large, and metallic. The metal seemed to form into vertical beams with only a little space between them._

_A cage._

_So the monster was inside the cage, whatever it was. But could it get out? Naruto looked up towards the center of the cage and saw a piece of paper. As he focused his attention toward it, he could make out the kanji for 'seal' written on it. Whatever was in that cage was sealed. It wasn't getting out. Naruto started having a nagging feeling in the back of his brain. What monster could have been sealed that would need a cage this large? As he thought on this, his eyes went wide._

'_It couldn't be, could it?' But that was sealed into himself, wasn't it? How could it be here?_

_Suddenly, there was a noise that Naruto hadn't heard yet. It was a low rumbling, coming from within the cage._

_A growl._

_Whatever was in there was growling. And if it was growling…_

…_it was waking up._

_No, it can't wake up. What would happen if it did?_

_The growling grew louder. There was movement inside the cage. Something was stretching and getting up. It started to move towards him._

'_Run!' he told himself. 'Get away!' But he couldn't. His body wouldn't move. He stood, staring at the cage, as the sound of steps grew louder. The beast was walking slowly. Just as it was about to come in range of his eyesight, Naruto started noticing the room light up. A yellow light started filling the room, blinding him from everything in it. The light kept growing. He could feel himself leaving this place, but right before he was completely blinded, he saw one last thing._

_It was a red slit eye, staring straight at him._

_

* * *

Naruto woke with a start. That had to be the weirdest and worst nightmare he had ever had._

'It was a nightmare, right?'

He noticed that his window blinds were open and he had been woken up by the light from the sunrise.

'So the sunrise saved me from that nightmare, huh? Seems like I have yet another reason to love sunrises.'

He quickly got ready to go. Today would be the start of training and missions with his team, and he was excited to get it started. He decided to leave his apartment via the window. Jumping from roof to roof, Naruto made great time as he made his way towards his second home, Ichiraku Ramen. He knew that he shouldn't eat it too often, but today was a special day and as such, he believed that it deserved a special breakfast.

"Hey old man, give me the normal!" yelled Naruto as he entered the ramen stand.

"Naruto, I see you're here for breakfast today," replied Teuchi. "And is that a new hitai-ite?"

"Yep, I'm a full fledged genin now, with a team and everything."

"Really? Who's on your team?"

"Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke."

"Good for you Naruto. Good luck with the new team."

"Arigatou." The conversation over for the moment, Naruto went to consuming his bowls of ramen. As soon as he was finished, he left and headed for training grounds 7. When he arrived he found that he was the first one there again. He found a tree with a nice area of shade under it, sat down, and started meditating. A half an hour later, Sasuke and Sakura showed up. Sakura was, like usual, staring at Sasuke with hearts in her eyes, and Sasuke was, like usual, ignoring her to the best of his ability. As soon as he got to the training grounds, he noticed Naruto meditating. Out of respect for what Naruto was doing more than who he was, Sasuke let him be without disturbing him. Sakura, on the other hand, did not.

"Naruto, what the hell do you think you're doing?" yelled Sakura in an annoyed tone. "You're just sitting there doing nothing. Are you sleeping?"

Naruto was annoyed to say the least. At least Sasuke had the decency to let him meditate in quiet.

"Sakura," he said in a calm voice after waiting a few moments. "I am not sleeping. I am meditating. Right now I am trying to mentally prepare myself for the day ahead. To do this, I need to have inner peace so that I may view things rationally and make the wisest decision. Through meditation, I find peace. With life as a shinobi and as a man, there is nothing but violence and war; so must there be a balance of peace and harmony. Thus, I meditate, so as to keep myself balanced and ready for the trials of the day."

Sakura stood shocked at those words. She could imagine a Buddhist monk of saying such things, but certainly not Naruto.

"Does it really help to deal with the issues you face?"

"Yes."

"Can I try? I want to find this peace you seem to have found."

"'As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.' If you are seeking peace, you shall only find something that seems to be peace but is not. Only when you seek nothing, shall you find what you seek. Such is the way of Zen." Sakura could only nod her head in mild understanding of the words spoken to her.

Having decided that he had meditated long enough, Naruto stood up and started stretching. After a good warm up, he put his hands in the cross symbol and produced 3 kage bunshins. He had all of them charge at him in a spar. The first one came in for a high roundhouse kick. He ducked underneath in and came up with an uppercut to the clone's gut. Right as he was doing it, a second clone came down for a leg sweep. Naruto jumped to avoid it while performing a back flip. As he became horizontal, he wrapped his legs around the second clone and used the momentum from the back flip to fire the clone towards the third clone, thereby defeating all three.

'That was tough. I didn't know my clones could push me so hard. I barely missed that sweep kick, but I got him back from it and hurt him good.'

Naruto stopped for a second and took a pensive pose.

'That move I did to him with the back flip did hurt him, but how do I know that?' He sat down on the ground and started recalling all the facts. 'I made the clones. I saw the first one coming with the high kick, but I also remember going for a high kick. Wait, I didn't do that, my clone did, so why am I remembering that? I also remember going for the sweep kick when I saw him going for an uppercut, but that too doesn't make sense. That was my clone doing that and not me.'

Naruto sat there for a few minutes carefully going over all of his memories. Slowly he separated them into the individual clones and his own.

'Ok, so I have all of my memories as well as all the memories of my clones. What does that mean? Is this some weird effect of the fox? No, what would it have to do with this? It must be some facet of the jutsu. What does it do?' A moment later, an idea struck him and his eyes went wide with the information. 'If this is true, then this is a jutsu I am going to have to spend a lot of time learning and mastering to its full extent. Now, how do I test it?'

This question proved fairly simple for Naruto to answer. Moments later he stood up, a plan fully formed in his mind. Putting his hands once again in a cross, he produced one kage bunshin. He and the clone walked over to Sasuke.

"Sasuke."

"What dobe?"

"I need a favor. I'm trying to test something."

"What do you need me to do?"

"I am going to go into the forest. Wait until I am out of earshot and say something to the clone. Say a number, any number. I'll come back in 2 minutes. Arigatou Sasuke."

"Whatever, dobe."

With that Naruto went into the forest and started to count to himself. Meanwhile back in the clearing, Sasuke leaned over and whispered something into the clone's ear. 2 minutes later, the real Naruto returned.

"Well dobe, do you know what number I said?"

"Not yet." With that, Naruto dispelled the clone. "9, you said 9"

Sasuke merely nodded in response, before leaving to continue his normal brooding. Suddenly Naruto's face brightened up and he smiled a very broad and fox-like smile. Many different uses and possibilities for the jutsu started to flood into him. Fearing he might forget some of these, he quickly pulled out a scroll and some ink and started writing them down. Once he had all of the ideas written down, he started planning on how he could maximize his time, planning what to do first. This eventually lead to a chronological plan of what he was going to do when that was so long it would undoubtedly take months if not years to do it all, seeing as some things could be repeated as many times as he'd like to continuously improve himself. In other words, he had just finished creating his own training regiment. With this, he could begin to make himself stronger, smarter, and better prepared for missions, which is the goal of any good shinobi.

When Kakashi arrived a short while later, he came upon a weird site. Sasuke was brooding, muttering something about the number 9, Sakura was sitting under a tree going through a cycle of closing her eyes and slapping the ground in frustration, and Naruto was writing in a scroll with a look of absolute glee etched on his face. Having absolutely no idea what could have spawned these events, Kakashi decided it best to just ignore it and move on. Maybe he could get some clue about it later.

"Yo," he said, making his presence known. He waited, expecting to hear some complaint about the fact that he was late again. When none came, he looked at each member of his team. "Well, isn't anyone going to yell about how late I am?"

"Busy," said Naruto, still writing in the scroll.

"Meditating," came Sakura.

"Hn," was Sasuke's answer.

Kakashi sweatdropped. "Ok…Anyway, today is our first official day as team 7, so lets go get ourselves a mission, shall we?" A congruous sound was all that was needed from the team before they got on their way. Soon they arrived at the Hokage tower and were ushered in without any questions. However, since Naruto was last in line, he was the only one to see the two chuunins guarding the door have a disgusted look on their face as they watched him go in. Naruto made no reaction to this, so it was not obvious that he had seen it or been affected by it, but though he remained silent, his thoughts were a bit different.

'Why must they keep giving me these looks? I've been getting these looks for my entire life. People don't want me in the village. They don't want me around them. They probably just don't want me alive. Now its even worse though, because I know why they have those faces. It almost gives me a way to understand why they feel that way, but its still unfair. I'm not the demon, I'm just the jail the keeps it in. I am the human sacrificed to keep a demon a bay: a jinchuriki. The very word should give them an understanding of what I truly am, but they can't see past the demon.'

Like a true shinobi, none of these feelings showed on the outside. He kept himself cool and composed to everyone. The only one who would be able to see his hurt would be the Hokage himself. Unluckily for Naruto, this was just the person he was going to see.

As he walked into the mission assignment room, he looked over to see the Hokage looked at him intently. Though no words were spoken, the two had such an understanding that they could almost hear each others thoughts.

'So there were more that gave you those looks, huh Naruto?'

'I've come to expect them, Jii-san, but they still hurt.'

'I know Naruto. I know they hurt, and I am sorry, but there is nothing I can do.'

'It's ok, Jii-san, I know you're doing everything you can and for that I thank you.'

The mental conversation over, the two turned to Kakashi as he started speaking.

"Team 7 reporting for its first mission."

"Ok Team 7," spoke Iruka. "For your first mission, you will be painting fences." Iruka turned to Naruto, expecting to hear a complaint. When none came, he was shocked.

"Iruka-sensei," said Naruto, raising his hand. "During the completion of this mission, is there any restriction on jutsu use?"

If Iruka was shocked before, he was even more so now. "No Naruto, there is no restriction. You may use any jutsu to complete the mission, though I fail to see what jutsu would help to complete this mission, unless of course you knew a fence painting jutsu that I do not."

"No, I know no such jutsu, however there is a jutsu I know that will help."

"Which one?" A small smile crossed Naruto's face.

"You'll just have to wait and find out."

'There's the Naruto I know and love,' thought Iruka.

Everything concluded, Team 7 left the office and proceeded to the site of their mission. When they got there, they were shown the fence that needed to be painted and told where to get brushes and paint.

"Ok Team 7," stated Kakashi. "This mission should take an hour to complete. If you can finish it sooner, we will go and get another mission which means more pay."

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto, as the same mischievous smile from before returned. At this, Naruto put his hands in the cross seal and created 25 clones. As they all poofed into existence, Naruto spoke to them like a general commanding his troops.

"Ok men. We have a fence to paint, and we will be using the divide and conquer strategy. Every clone takes a brush and a section. When you finish the section, help the clone next to you. Once there is no more to be painted, disperse yourselves. Understood?"

"Hai," came the collective reply, before the clones separated and grabbed brushes. Sasuke and Sakura could only watch as the clones finished the fence in about 10 minutes. As they each dispursed, signaling the that they were finished, the memories were transferred to Naruto. When he received the last set of memories, he went to Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, since we're finished with the mission, should we go back to the Hokage Tower to get another?"

It took Kakashi a moment to pick his chin up from the floor. When he did, he finally answered Naruto's question.

"Technically Naruto, you completed the mission, but the team did not. Therefore, the mission cannot be counted as a success."

"The success of a mission is based on whether the key objective was completed. The key objective was to get the fences painted. They are painted, so the key objective was completed. Thus, the mission was a success."

"Except, the fence being painted wasn't the key objective."

"What do you mean? We were ordered to paint the fence, weren't we?"

"Yes, you were. You all were. That was the order, but it wasn't the key objective of the mission."

"Then what was?"

"To learn to work as a team. That is the objective of all D-ranked missions. Any civilian could paint a fence. Most experienced ninja could do it in a matter of minutes. Teams of genin are assigned missions like fence painting so that they can learn to work as a team, to know each other, and to trust each other. In the field, you need to know as much as you can about your team so you can know what you can expect them to do. You can only get so much from conversations and training. You need to work together, and the best way to do that…"

"…is to do missions as a team. I know that, however there is one thing you are forgetting."

"What's that?"

"Teammates need to know each other's capabilities to work together effectively."

"And…?"

"And, they didn't know the full capabilities of kage bunshin. In order to properly show them how kage bunshins can help in the completion of future missions. And the best way to demonstrate that is…"

"…to show it in action in the completion of a mission. So by doing it on your own, you've helped the overall effectiveness and efficiency of missions both present and future."

Naruto smirked. "Exactly."

'Damn, he got me again. How does he keep doing that? It's like he anticipates what I'm going to ask about and researches it. Either that, or he has actually memorized everything about the way Konoha runs, and that is unlikely. Unless…'

"Naruto, did you say 2 days ago that your goal is to become Hokage?"

Naruto smiled sincerely. "Yes I did."

'Did he figure it out?' thought Naruto.

"And you said yesterday that you spoke to the Sandaime?"

"Hai."

"Do you do that often?"

"Hai. I speak to him almost everyday."

"What do you talk about?"

"Konoha."

"And how it is run?"

"Exactly. I was wondering when you would figure it out. I told jii-san a while ago that I wanted to be Hokage. At first, he disagreed, believing I was too stupid, though he didn't say that directly. As soon as I dropped the mask and showed him my true persona, he changed his mind. Apparently, he saw potential in me, so he started teaching me all about being Hokage, including why missions are given to certain ninjas."

"I'll admit Naruto, I'm impressed. You've done your homework and your ahead of the game when it comes to learning the lessons of a genin and beyond, but there is something I need to know. Did you use the kage bunshins because you knew you could justify what you did, or did you really want to help the team improve in the future?"

"Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto in a serious voice, all traces of his smile disappearing from his face. "I would NEVER do that. I am not so naïve as to believe that I am more important than any of my teammates. The future has not yet been written. Who is to say that Sasuke or Sakura may be more important than I? I would never jeopardize the future of Konoha just because of my arrogance. I would never impede the progress of my teammates for the sake of my own. We grow as a team. We improve as a team. That is the spirit of Konoha and the very essence of the will of fire. I would gladly make any sacrifice in order to make sure that anyone, friend, teammate, or even the villagers that have hated me, can see another sunrise."

Kakashi nodded solemnly. Such was the answer of a true shinobi of Konoha. No less would do for an experienced shinobi of jounin or ANBU rank, but to receive such an answer from a genin showed wisdom far beyond his years. Naruto was showing the maturity of an older shinobi before even going on his first real mission (D-ranks don't count in Kakashi or most jounin's minds). Indeed, if this was the level of maturity and understanding Kakashi could expect from Naruto, he would definitely prove to be an interesting ninja to watch grow up.

After agreeing with Naruto's assessment of the mission, Kakashi relented and lead the team back to the Hokage's tower to get another mission. On the way there, Naruto spoke up.

"Kakashi'sensei, after this mission, are we going to do some team training?"

"Hai, I think we will. Why, is there something specific you wanted to work on?"

"Hai, and I need your help for it, but I'll tell you about that later at the team training. For the moment, I should focus on the upcoming mission."

Kakashi silently agreed, and the four continued on to the Hokage tower. When they reached the building for the second time that day, they were ushered in to the same room. Here they were, standing in the same place they were not 20 minutes prior.

"Kakashi-san, how is the mission progressing?" asked the Sandaime, smiling slightly as if he knew what the answer would be.

"It is finished, Hokage-sama."

"Finished?" asked Iruka. "How did your team finish the mission that quickly? It should have taken a genin team an hour to paint that fence, and your team has been gone for only 20 minutes since receiving it. Factoring in the time it takes to travel to the mission site and back, you must have completed it in 15 minutes."

"Actually, we finished it in 10 minutes, but had to have a conversation afterward to decide if it could be counted as successful or not."

"Why wouldn't it be successful? You didn't help, did you?"

"Ie, I did not, however the mission was completed by only one member of the team, so it was not completed as a team. That being the main objective of a D-ranked mission, I was not sure it could be counted as successful."

"Wait, it was completed by only one member, and it still took only 10 minutes? How is that even possible."

"Kage-bunshins."

"What?"

"The member used kage-bunshins to do the work along with him."

"But it would take a lot of kage-bunshins to do the work that fast. How many were produced?"

"24."

"24? Kakashi, am I to assume that the member of your group who did the mission alone was Naruto?"

Naruto smiled broadly at this. He was getting noticed for his skills.

"Hai, it was."

Iruka just shook his head at this. "Do you now believe the mission was a success?"

"Hai, I do."

"Then it will be listed as such. Did you come just to report the success of the mission?"

"Ie, we were also hoping to get another mission since we finished that one so quickly."

"Well it just so happens that we have one more for today. Would you like it?"

"Hai, we would."

"Very well then. Your mission is to retrieve Tora, the cat, and this time, I don't believe Kage-bunshins will help very much."

"Ie, I don't believe they will either. Ok, team 7, let's go."

"Hold on Kakashi-sensei," spoke Naruto. "Hokage-sama, may I ask you a private question?"

"Go ahead Naruto." Naruto walked up to the Hokage and whispered something in his ear. The Hokage chuckled a bit and gave Naruto an answer. Naruto's face dropped for a second. The Hokage whispered something else in his ear and Naruto smiled a bit before he straightened up and went back to his team.

"Ready now, Naruto?" asked Kakashi.

"Hai."

"Then let's go."

As team 7 got out of hearing range, Iruka turned to the Sandaime.

"What did Naruto want to know?"

The Hokage chuckled again. "He wanted to know if cats and foxes get along very well."

Iruka widened his eyes at this before chuckling a bit himself. "And what did you tell him."

"I told him the truth. Cats and foxes have never been known to get along very well, seeing as foxes tended to chase and eat cats."

"That's what caused him to sadden all of the sudden?"

"Hai."

"But what made him smile afterwards?"

"I told him not to worry, as Tora probably wouldn't like Sasuke either. Though I actually meant that cats tend to like females more then males, I doubt Naruto took it that way."

"Yes I doubt that too." The two men both smiled at this. They could easily see why this would make Naruto happy.

'Naruto, good luck,' thought Iruka, before getting back to work.

Back with team 7, Naruto sneezed.

'Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag on what I told jii-san,' thought Naruto before smacking himself inwardly for such a terrible, though unintentional pun. 'Oh well, onto the next mission.'

* * *

Hiashi was having an unusual morning. This is not hard to accomplish, as his days are usually very structured. He wakes up at the same time everyday. He eats the same, or at least similar breakfasts everyday. Anything that makes him change these things is considered unusual. However, this morning was very unuaual.

Actually, the changes started the previous night. His daughter came home at 10pm tired from training. That was not unusual, but her attitude was.

'Usually she comes home looking dejected and sad, but last night there was almost a glow about her. She looked more confident, and dare I say it, stronger.'

This alone was making it an unusual morning, as he was constantly trying to figure out what could have caused this change in his daughter. He hadn't seen Hinata in such a state in years. He knew that it was his fault that she hadn't been confident, so it would have to take someone of equal importance to instill this confidence in her, so who could have done it?

'It could have been Hokage-sama, but I doubt he would do that. He doesn't know her well enough to know what to say. But who else has as much importance as me, or as much authority?'

When he saw his daughter that morning, she was smiling with that same glow from the previous night. This was a completely different person from who she was before. Something had definitely changed. The question of who could have caused this was still plaguing his mind, as his daughter got ready to leave. This was when the most shocking of the events happened. It was as she was saying goodbye.

She stepped up to him, her eyes somewhat in a daze, and bowed. Then, as she was standing up, she said to him, "Sayonara, Otou-san." There was no stutter. There was no distress or sign of weakness in the voice. It wasn't in the same stoic tone as the rest of the Hyuugas, in fact it had a light feathery quality to it. Nonetheless, it was stable and nothing like the voice she had spoken the same words to him the previous morning.

'What happened to the normal Hinata? This isn't a bad thing. I've actually been waiting for something like this to happen, but I wanted to be the cause of it, or at the very least, to know what the cause of it was. If I don't know what it was that caused this, I can't make it continue to happen. Whatever it was, I don't want it to stop. Maybe I'll ask her about it later tonight after her training for the day is over. Perhaps she can tell me what happened.' With that, Hiashi went back to his normal routine.

Meanwhile, Hinata was making her way to the training grounds for team 8. She had shocked herself earlier when she realized the way she spoke to her father. She had never before had such security and confidence in herself to speak to him in such a voice. It was not the voice of an equal or of someone who could possibly fight him…yet. But it was a daughter's voice, his daughter's voice, my voice, and it has been silent for far too long.

'Of course, Otou-san has absolutely no idea what caused this confidence in me, and I don't believe I will tell him any time soon. I don't care though. All that matters to me is that Naruto doesn't think I'm weak and he even wants to train with me. I could be in heaven right now and there wouldn't be any difference. What he said to me yesterday was exactly what I needed to hear and he was the only one who could say it.'

Now, Hinata was not so naïve as to believe that everything would be easy from this point on. No, she still needed to get stronger physically, mentally, and emotionally. She would need to be able to deal with her father AND Naruto before she could truly call herself strong. But for once, the obstacles didn't seem so big. The finish line was not so far away. For once, she believed that it was possible for her to become what she would need to be to face life's challenges.

'I will not be weak. Not to Naruto. Not to Otou-san. Not to myself. I will not be weak.'

These thoughts repeated in her head as she arrived at the training grounds. She was the first one there, as she would probably always be. That was just how she was, always early and never late. She didn't mind being early. It gave her a chance to think about the upcoming day: what she needed to get done and a timeline of events. This way she could schedule her time appropriately and not spend too much time doing any one thing during training. Soon after she arrived, Shino and Kiba showed up. When they saw her though, they both noticed something different about Hinata.

Kiba and Shino had both known Hinata in the academy. They weren't necessarily friends, but that was hard to do when two of them rarely spoke to anyone. Kiba made up for that by speaking more than a normal person, though, so it all evened out in the end. Still, they had known her and had seen her every day. They had talked on occasion and knew of her stuttering, especially when it came to a certain blonde-haired fellow shinobi. They had come to understand her confidence problem over the years. The stuttering, they deduced (well, Shino deduced and explained to Kiba) was only the outward manifestation of a deep lack of self-confidence. Through one thing or another, Hinata had lost all belief in herself and her abilities. This made her become the quiet, weird girl that she had fostered as a reputation. Whenever they would see her, she would hang her head, speak softly, if at all, and generally exude an aura of worthlessness. They didn't believe her to be weak, but that didn't matter so long as she believed herself to be weak. No matter what they said to her, she would not gain the self-confidence she needed. It seemed as if they just weren't the people she needed to hear it from.

Today, however, she was holding her head up higher. She was sitting calmly, peacefully, her aura of worthlessness still there but greatly diminished in intensity. She actually looked, for lack of a better word, happy. Her eyes showed a determination neither Kiba nor Shino had ever seen in her before. Yes, something had happened, and Hinata had somehow changed since they last saw her.

"Ohayou-gosaimasu, Kiba-kun, Shino-gun!" she yelled exuberantly at them. The two of them stood stunned for a moment.

'That's Hinata?' they both thought simultaneously.

"Ohayou, Hinata," came Kiba's reply. Shino just nodded silently.

"It's a nice day today, isn't it?" asked Hinata.

"Hai, that it is," came a feminine response.

Just then, Kurenai dropped down from a nearby branch. She had been there for a few minutes and was observing her team. She too had noticed the changes in Hinata and was intrigued as to what could have been the cause of them.

Kurenai, like Kiba and Shino, had known Hinata for quite some time. When Hinata started going to the academy, Kurenai had been hired to guard and escort her. Apparently, the Hyuugas were worried about her safety, but not worried enough to send one of their own skilled shinobi to do it instead. She had always known Hinata to be shy and quiet. In the years that she would escort Hinata to the academy, Hinata hardly said more to her than "ohayou" or "arigatou." She always was looking down, her eyes betraying a hint of sadness to those who cared enough to look.

So why today was she so happy? Why did she exude the confidence that she had been lacking for so long? What or who could have caused this transformation in her student? One thing was for sure, it wasn't Hinata's father.

Kurenai had met and spoken to Hiashi on the day she took on her mission to escort Hinata. Her first impression of the man had been that he was as stoic and stern as any father she had ever met. He spoke only in criticisms when speaking to his daughter, which he rarely did, and showed none of the compassion that he should have, in Kurenai's opinion. He was to Hinata as he was to any other member of his clan: the head and nothing more. He never addressed Hinata as his daughter, at least never when Kurenai was present. Yet, Hinata always called him father, silently pleading with him to see her as more than just another clan member or even as an heir.

No, it was certainly not Hiashi that had caused this. He lacked the emotional knowledge to bring about this change. He wouldn't even know where to begin. It had to be someone else, but who? Kurenai took another look at Hinata.

'To cause such a change requires not just knowledge of what to say. There has to be a connection. A bond of some sort is required to get the response that I have seen, and not just a bond of friendship but something more, deeper. Her father possesses the bond, but not the knowledge. The Hokage possesses the knowledge but not the bond. Both are required to make the change, so who could have done it?'

These thoughts kept running in the back of Kurenai's mind as she greeted her students. As much as she would like to continue trying to solve this puzzle, she knew that as a good jounin sensei, she needed to get started on the tasks for the day, including going to the Hokage's tower to get a D-ranked mission to start building teamwork.

"Since we're all here and ready to go, let's get started, shall we?" This was greeted by three simultaneous nods. "Well, as this is my first teaching assignment, and I'm not yet set in my ways, I'm going to let you guys decide how we go about our days. We need to do some missions, but we should also get some team training in. Do you want to train first or go on a mission first and train in the afternoon?"

Hinata spoke up first. "I think we should train first. It would give us an opportunity to understand each other a little bit more before we start doing missions."

"However," came the voice of Shino. "It is our job to do the missions. We must get them done by the end of the day. Since we don't know how long it will take us to complete the mission, we should do them first and then come back for training. This would also allow us to have an uninterrupted training period."

"Hai," said Kiba. "I suppose that's true, but the more we train, the stronger we get and the faster we will be able to complete the missions." All three nodded at this.

"Both options have both advantages and disadvantages, so I propose this," said Hinata. "We spend an hour training, getting us really warmed up and in tune with one another, and then we do a mission. After we know the mission is completed we come back and train more until the end of the day." As the other two nodded in agreement, they turned to Kurenai to show they had made their decision.

"That sounds like a good plan," spoke Kurenai. "And your methodology of getting there was also very well done. For the moment, let's have some light spars to get our blood pumping. After an hour of this, we will regroup and go to the Hokage tower." With this they paired off. Kiba faced Shino while Hinata faced their sensei.

As they faced off, Kurenai noticed something about Hinata's sparring.

'When I tested them yesterday to see their current skill level, Hinata had a lot of potential but was still fairly weak in her gentle fist. She would stand back and let me come at her then try to dodge as many of my hits as possible. She made few if any attempts to try and hit me. It was as though she was afraid of trying to hit me. Though she had the skills of a shinobi, she lacked the fierce attitude and aggression of a warrior. Today, though, its like a completely different person. She's charging at me, attacking with her full force though not to the point of weakening he defense. Her blows are swifter and more precise, and she looks a lot more focused than she was. There is a fire in her eyes, a will to be better. I can tell that she is really giving her all right now, even though it is just a simple spar. It was just like I saw in her earlier. I must find out what happened, so that I can make sure it keeps happening. Whatever caused her to gain this sliver of confidence needs to become an active participant in her life.'

After a good 45 minutes of sparring, Kurenai called a halt to her and Hinata's fight, though let Kiba and Shino continue their own. She called Hinata over to her so that they could talk.

"I must say Hinata, I am impressed, if not confused. Today you have shown great improvement over yesterday. Your forms are sharper and your strikes are harder and more precise. You also seem to show a slight air of confidence, which begs the question: what caused this change? You cannot become that much better over night, which leads me to believe that you actually possessed the skills already but just lacked the self-confidence to use them. Something must have given you that confidence. Did anything happen yesterday after we talked?" Hinata immediately blushed which caused Kurenai to raise an eyebrow.

"A-Ano, well, t-there was s-something that h-happened yesterday, sensei," stammered out Hinata.

'Well, now I know who caused the change. There's only one person who would cause her to blush and start stammering like that. Naruto, what did you say to her?'

"Can I assume it has something to Uzumaki-san?" Hinata blushed again.

'Bingo.'

"W-Well, after I left you, I followed him and Kakashi-sensei for a bit, but I was too shy to speak to him, so I hid behind a tree. After the last store, Naruto-kun and Kakashi-sensei parted and Naruto-kun must have sensed me behind the tree, so he called me out. First, we just talked about the new teams and that we would have missions coming up soon. Then, we ran out of things to say, and a-ano…" Hinata blushed a third time, recalling how she and Naruto had been staring at each other for those few moments the day before. "A-Anyway, as he was leaving he told me he wanted to train with me and that he didn't think I was weak."

'That was what he said, huh?' thought Kurenai. 'I've told her many times that she is not weak. I know that Kiba and Shino have each told her that she is not weak, but she never believed us. But hearing it just one time from Naruto, and her attitude improves drastically? And I would bet that Naruto didn't even know his words would have such a profound effect on the young heiress. He probably just said it because it was what he believed. Still, though, if he has the power to make Hinata believe in herself and really push to become better, he is an influence I must make sure she continues to have.'

"Do you think you will train with him tonight?"

"I don't know. We didn't really say when we would train or where, so I don't know where to meet him."

"That's easy. As soon as our training is done for the day, go over to team 7's training grounds. I am sure Naruto will be there afterwards for a bit. You can talk to him then and find out when he wants to train with you."

"Hai. Arigatou-gosaimasu, Kurenai-sensei."

Kurenai nodded in response and called the rest of the team over to her. Kiba and Shino arrived and the four of them went over to the Hokage tower to get their mission. Just as they were arriving at the tower, they saw team 7 exiting.

"Kakashi," said Kurenai. "Don't tell me you were so late to your own team that you only now got to the Hokage tower."

"Ie, this is actually our second mission, after we finished the first one so quickly." Kurenai noticed Naruto smiling at this. "And what about you? Your usually pretty punctual."

"Actually, we decided to do a little training before coming over here."

"Ah." While the two senseis were talking, Hinata and Naruto were greeting each other for the day.

"Ohayou, Hinata!" yelled Naruto, smiling broadly.

"O-Ohayou, Naruto-kun."

"Oh, Hinata, I know I said I'd like to train with you yesterday, and I wanted to know if you wanted to meet up tonight after team training."

"H-Hai, I'd like that very much."

"Great! We'll train for a while and then maybe we can go grab dinner."

'Dinner?!? Like a date???' Hinata started blushing again. Naruto didn't notice Hinata blushing, but he did realize how that might have sounded and started blushing himself.

"I mean, I don't know about you, but I get really hungry after a long day of training, so I usually go over to Ichiraku for a quick supper. Besides, friends can eat together every once in a while, right?"

"Friends?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, we are friends aren't we?"

"I don't know. Are we?"

"Would you like us to be?"

"H-Hai, I'd like that very much."

"Then we're friends."

Naruto put out his hand. Hinata looked at it for a moment. She had never really had a friend. Kiba and Shino were great, but they were just teammates. Yet here was someone who wanted to be her friend, and it wasn't just anyone. It was Naruto, the boy she loved, the boy who inspired her with those comforting words yesterday. He was offering to be _her_ friend. Truly, this was a momentous occasion. Hinata knew that she would remember this moment for the rest of her life as the time when she made her first real friend. With that in mind, she put her own hand out to take hold of Naruto's.

As soon as the two hands met, they both experienced something they had not predicted. A warmth surged through their bodies. It wasn't like the heat of a hot day, but a comforting warmth that gently wrapped around them. A cool wind blew past them, creating a swirl of leaves. Birds were singing around them. Insects were buzzing. Nature itself was calling out, signifying the importance of the event that had transpired. As the warmth cocooned itself around them, they suddenly felt an air of peacefulness and tranquility around them, as if this was the natural way things should be. Their very souls resonated with deep satisfaction and happiness.

Little did they know that deep within the recesses of Naruto's mind, sealed behind the iron bars which imprisoned it, the Kyuubi that had been slowly waking up also started feeling this warmness and tranquility. Everything that Naruto was feeling was being sent back to him. That comforting warmth and feeling of peacefulness lulled the giant creature back into a deep slumber, delaying the inevitable awakening of the beast. If such power and such feelings of contentment could be gained by the simple touching of hands, then Kami himself must have been smiling on this moment of unification.

On the outside, Naruto and Hinata were gradually coming down from the peaceful state they had been enjoying for those few brief moments. As they gradually parted again, each was filled with a slight sense of emptiness, as though their souls were still longing to be connected to one another. Alas, such a wonderful thing could not last indefinitely, and so the two shinobi departed one another to rejoin their own teams, unaware that the whole transgression had been observed by their senseis who had long since finished their conversation. The two senseis looked at each other with a knowing look and a happy smile. It was no surprise to anyone that Naruto was the one to break the silence.

"W-Well, I guess we should get going," spoke Naruto with a very uncharacteristic stutter, a testament to the intensity of everything he had felt a moment prior. "Mission to do and all that, but I can't wait to see you later." His words regained some of the vigor of his normal speech, though there was still a slight airiness to it.

"H-Hai, me neither. S-Sayonara, Naruto-kun." For some reason, Hinata's voice sounded slightly different to Naruto too. In actuality, it was her normal voice, but to Naruto, it was different. It was lighter, with a feathery quality to it.

'I doubt even angels have such a nice voice,' thought Naruto before wondering how such a thought had entered his mind.

"Ah. Sayonara, Hinata….chan." With that he quickly rejoined his team as they left to go on their next mission, leaving a very stunned Hinata.

'Did he just call me Hinata-_chan_??? I must be dreaming, but I know I'm still awake. He really called me Hinata-chan. Could it mean…? Could he…? No, it couldn't be. But then again…'

Lucky for Hinata, the only one to hear the added suffix to the name was Kurenai, who just smiled at it. She smiled even more at the expression on Hinata's face, which was like an open book to her emotions. It was all she could do to keep from laughing at the priceless expression, but he held it in and walked over to her pupil putting a hand on her shoulder.

Hinata looked up at her sensei. There were small tears forming in her eyes, eyes that showed hoped, but fear. It was as though she wanted to be happy, but was afraid of the truth of her happiness. Without saying a word, her sensei got the message.

'Could it be true? Is it possible? What should I do?'

Kurenai knelt down to her student.

"It is very possible Hinata. I don't believe I've ever heard him use that suffix with anyone else, so it's entirely possible that it means something, but don't push it. He is just starting to come to terms with those feelings, and you don't want to push him away by moving too fast. Be patient, Hinata. Wait for him to come around. In the mean time, be there for him. Be supportive. Be a friend, and eventually, if it's meant to be, he will come to you. When the time comes, you will need to tell him how you feel, but not until that time comes."

"But sensei, how will I know when that time comes?"

"You'll just know. When a woman comes to that special moment, she always knows."

"But I'm not a woman yet. I'm still 12."

"When that time comes, Hinata, you will be, because no girl has the confidence to do what needs to be done during that moment."

"And what's that?"

"To put yourself on the line. To proclaim your feelings, and put yourself at the mercy of fate and the one you love. No child has the bravery to do this, and once you do, no matter the outcome, you will pass into adulthood. But don't worry about that for now. That moment is probably a ways off, so enjoy what time you have left of your childhood."

Hinata just nodded in response.

"Good, now let's go join the others." The two walked over to Kiba and Shino who luckily had heard nothing of the conversation. They did notice that Hinata was smiling even brighter than before. Something happened again, and again they had missed it and again they had no idea what had caused it. The two just shrugged (well, Kiba shrugged and Shino just stood as stoic as ever), before turning and starting to walk towards the Hokage tower to receive their first mission.

Meanwhile, Naruto was having problems of his own trying to figure out why he did what he did.

'Why did I call her Hinata-chan? I've never called anyone –chan before, so why did I do it with Hinata? That suffix is supposed to be reserved for either your child or someone you really like or even love, from what I can remember from my grammar classes at the academy. Hinata clearly isn't my child, and she isn't someone I really liked, is she? I mean, yeah she's like my best friend. And I like talking to her. And I like hanging out with her, otherwise I wouldn't have invited her to train with me. But I don't _like_ her, right?'

Though even as he was trying to convince himself of this, there was a voice in the back of his head disagreeing with his thoughts. He'd like to believe it was the fox, but it had never spoken to him, so it must be his own thoughts.

'Maybe I do like her. But I've never liked a girl before, so how do I tell? How can I know that I really like her if I don't understand the meaning of the word like?'

He thought about asking Kakashi, but then shook that idea off. He didn't mind his sensei, but they weren't really close enough to talk about stuff like this. This is the kind of stuff most kids would talk to their parents about, but seeing as how Naruto was an orphan, he couldn't really do that. He could probably ask Jii-san about it, but he didn't want to disturb the Hokage for a trivial matter like this. This left Naruto with only one person he could think of to ask for advice, and he intended to do just that when the team broke for lunch.

* * *

After chasing down Tora the cat, which unfortunately Naruto could find no way of using Kage-bunshin to make it faster, team 7 sparred for a little but before breaking for lunch. Kakashi gave them an hour to be back at the training grounds, which was plenty of time for Naruto to get some ramen at Ichiraku's before stopping off at the academy to say hi to an old sensei.

As he entered the classroom where he had spent the last four years learning, he saw Iruka sitting at his desk. Iruka immediately noticed Naruto come in and wondered what he was doing there.

"Naruto, what are you doing here? Don't you have practice with your new team today?"

"Hai, we actually broke for lunch, and I had something I wanted to ask you about?"

"Oh, ok. Go ahead."

Naruto paused for a moment, trying to think how to phrase the question on his mind. He decided the straight forward approach would be best.

"Ah, Iruka-sensei, how do you tell if you like a girl? I mean really _like_ a girl?"

Iruka's face showed a shocked expression for a moment before it was replaced by a gentle smile.

'So it's one of those questions, huh?'

"Well, Naruto, do you like spending time with her?"

"Hai."

"Do you like talking to her?"

"Hai."

"Would you consider her a friend?"

"Hai, she's probably my best friend."

"Well then, the easiest way to know is to ask yourself one question. If you could only be friends with her for the rest of your life and nothing more, would you be disappointed?"

Naruto thought about this for a moment.

'If I could be only friends with Hinata, would I be disappointed? Well, I'm sure she would be a good sparring partner, but friends are sparring partners, so that doesn't count. She's not on my team, so we couldn't be teammates, and I was disappointed that we weren't teammates. Though, that also could be because of her skills and strength. Then again, Sasuke is strong, but I didn't want to be on his team even though I am. I did want Hinata though. Why? Well, she's nice. She's never insulted me. I can get along with her easily. I would definitely be disappointed if I could never see her again. But would I be disappointed if we could only be friends? I don't know.'

Iruka could see the mental conversation going on in Naruto's head as he tried to answer the question.

'Maybe I should go about this a different way. Instead of asking myself a question, I will tell myself that I can't be more than friends. It's worth a shot. Here it goes. I can never be more than friends with Hinata.'

Naruto suddenly felt a twang in his heart. It hurt that he couldn't be more than friends than her. He reminded himself that it was just a test and felt better immediately, but he still remembered the pain.

'I guess I have my answer. I don't want to just be friends with her. I like her more than that. I don't even think being best friends is enough, but where does that leave me? Maybe Iruka-sensei can explain.'

"I don't want to just be friends with her. I like her more than that, and it would hurt if I could only be friends."

'It would hurt? It should feel disappointing, but it shouldn't hurt. For it to hurt, his feelings would have to be stronger than I guessed. He must really like this girl. I wonder who it is?' Then he recalled Naruto being worried about Hinata's safety the day of the graduation exam. 'It couldn't be, could it?'

"Well, Naruto, it sounds to me like really do like her."

"Hai, I guess I do. Now what do I do about it?"

"Talk to herm be her friend, and when the time is right, tell her how you feel."

"It's that easy?"

"Trust me Naruto. It may seem simple enough, but actually confessing your feelings for a girl is one of the hardest things you will ever do."

Naruto just nodded at his old sensei.

"Now, shouldn't you be heading back to train with your team?"

"Hai, I guess I should. Sayonara, Iruka-sensei."

"Sayonara, Naruto." With that, Naruto ran off to rejoin his team.

'Good luck Naruto. You're going to need it.'

* * *

That evening, when training was over for team 7, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura started to walk home. Naruto, however, stayed put.

"Naruto, aren't you going home?" asked Kakashi.

"No, I'm going to stay and train a while on my own. Plus, I'm meeting a friend here later."

"Would this friend happen to be the heiress of a certain Byakkugan wielding clan?"

"How did you know?"

"Your friends might have missed it, but I managed to catch that interesting moment outside the Hokage tower this morning."

"Yeah, well, she is a friend, and I thought I'd spar with her so we can both get stronger together." Just as he said this, Hinata arrived at the training ground.

"Ok then, I'll just leave you two alone then," said Kakashi as he poofed away.

"Konbanwa, Hinata-chan."

'He said it again!!!'

"K-Konbanwa, Naruto-kun. S-So what did you w-want to do to train?"

"Oh, I just figured we'd spar a bit."

"O-Ok." They both got into their respective stances. Hinata got into her jyuuken stance, and Naruto into his goken stance (which he had learned from Gai-sensei during their training).

'I really need to learn a new taijutsu style. I mean goken is good, but it doesn't really suit me all too well.'

"Ok, Hinata-chan, come at me with everything you've got. Don't hold back!"

"D-Don't hold back? But you c-could get hurt. Jyuuken is very d-dangerous."

"Don't worry about me, Hinata-chan. Besides, how will you get better if you hold back?"

"I g-guess your right."

"Yosh, let's go."

The two began sparring. Hinata's form was tighter, but Naruto was faster. Everytime Hinata would come in for a hit, Naruto would move out of the way. He was able to dodge every one of Hinata's strikes. When she would try to strike his legs, he would jump above it, when she went for his torso he would duck beneath it. However, his offense wasn't good enough to get through Hinata's defense either. He would go in for a sweep kick and she would block his foot and attempt to jyuuken it. Thus, Naruto had to keep using his speed to pull back his strike after each one failed to hit the target. Hinata's defense was her best offense. Eventually, Naruto was too slow and got hit in the wrist while attempting to punch Hinata in the shoulder. His arm fell limp by his side.

Realizing what she had done, Hinata immediately began apologizing, but Naruto would have none of it.

"Hinata-chan, don't apologize for being strong. I was too slow, and you took advantage of it. That is what shinobi are supposed to do, so don't apologize for doing what you did."

"H-Hai, but n-now you c-can't use your arm? Doesn't it h-hurt?"

"A little, but not too much. Besides, there will come times in the future where I will lose the use of a limb for one reason or another, and I need to learn to fight even while handicapped. So, let's continue our fight, shall we?" Hinata nodded and the two went back at it.

They continued to spar like this for about 2 hours. By that point, Naruto had lost the use of both of his arms and his right foot, so he decided to call it a day. Hinata had gotten a couple bruises from being hit a few times when Naruto surprised her with an off-the-wall move, but she was mostly fine. She walked over to Naruto and started unsealing the sealed tenketsu points. When she was finished, Naruto stood up and stretched out his now working muscles.

"That was a good spar, Hinata-chan, we should do it more often. You're really strong and put up a good fight. It makes for a really nice challenge," Naruto said, smiling brightly.

"Y-You really t-think so?"

"Yeah, I do. You are definitely the best kunoichi in the class and probably one of the best shinobi. I mean, you beat me so you have to be good."

'He's right, I did beat him. I beat Naruto.'

"B-But my f-father thinks I'm w-weak."

"Is that who has been telling you that? Hinata-chan, you are not weak. You have all the skills and strength to take down any opponent that stands in your way. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. All you need is to believe in yourself, and you can accomplish anything."

'All I need to do is believe in myself? Well, if you can believe in me, Naruto-kun, then maybe I can believe in myself.'

"You feel better now?"

"Hai, arigatou."

"Any time. Now, do you feel like grabbing something to eat? Cause I don't know about you, but that spar built up an appetite."

"I t-think I'd like that," said Hinata as she blushed a bit.

'I'm glad she's feeling better,' thought Naruto. 'I didn't like it when she was feeling bad about herself. Next time I meet this father of hers, we're going to have words about why he put down his daughter so much.'

Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and started running towards Ichiraku to get some dinner. Hinata blushed at the initial contact, but realized there was no deep meaning behind it and just let it go. She enjoyed the rest of the night, and when she got back to the Hyuuga estate, she saw her father waiting for her.

"Hinata, where have you been? It's late. You should have returned earlier. I was…worried."

Hinata looked up at her father with a questioning glance.

"You were worried, otou-san?"

"Hai, I was. Hinata, I may act cold sometimes, but I am still your father and I still worry about you."

Hinata could almost cry. This was the closest she had been to her father in a long time.

"That being said, Hinata, I would like to know where you have been."

"I was out training with a f-friend." Hinata blushed as she said this, which did not go unnoticed by Hiashi. "We sparred for 2 hours, until we were forced to stop."

"Why were you forced to stop?"

"Well, when he lost the use of both of his arms and one of his legs, he decided that I rightfully won the spar."

'She defeated he opponent using the jyuuken? Has she gotten stronger while I haven't been watching?'

"Hinata, I must ask this. If you were able to defeat this friend of yours, whom I assume is your own age, then how come you can never defeat your younger sister in any of your spars?"

Hinata didn't want to answer, but she thought back to Naruto's words.

'_If you believe in yourself, you can do anything_.'

So, she took a deep breath, and told him.

"There are two reasons. First of all, as she is my sister, and my little one at that, I have never had any desire to hurt her. I would never like hurt her or allow her to be injured, so I would always put less than full strength in my attacks and would attack very infrequently."

'That makes sense. She has the same caring attitude of her mother. Only fight someone who deserves to be fought.'

"What was the other reason?"

"I did not believe I could win."

"I do not understand."

"Whenever I would fight her, or anyone for that matter, I would lose all faith in myself. I would hear the word 'weak' repeated over and over in my head, essentially telling myself that I had no chance of beating her or anyone else. This only served to make me doubt myself, and when I lost my doubts were proven correct even though they were the cause of my defeat in the first place. In essence, my belief that I was weak would cause me to become that which I believed myself to be. Only when my friend told me that he believed me to be strong, and convinced me to believe that myself, was I able to defeat him."

Hiashi couldn't believe his ears. First, she had not stuttered throughout that whole explanation, and the only time she's stuttered tonight has been when speaking of her friend. Mostly, though, it was what she said.

'This whole time, I believed that by calling her weak, I was pushing her to become stronger, when in reality I was the one causing her to be weak in the first place. What have I done? I've driven her away from me and caused her to become everything I've tried to prevent. Whoever this friend of hers is, I owe him my deepest thanks. If only I knew who it was, but I fear it may be some time before she trusts me with his name. Now, it would appear that I must make up for my mistakes.

"Hinata," he said in a tone that Hinata had not heard from him in years. It was not cold or demeaning, but warm and comforting. If that wasn't shocking enough, what he did next was absolutely unpredictable. He kneeled to the ground and bowed to her. "Gomen-nasai," he said in that same voice. "I am so sorry for all the grief I have caused you over the years. I have pushed you away hoping to make you stronger, but all I have done is made you weaker, and it almost cost me a daughter in the process. Please forgive me."

"I do forgive you, otou-san. I'm just glad…" At this, she could no longer keep back the tears of joy. She leapt into her father's arms. "Otou-san!"

"Musume," he said. "Arigatou."

All Hinata could think about was that her father was back to the way he was before. It was amazing. In just over a day, Naruto had managed to make her feel stronger and more confident. He had shown her that she could do anything. And now, somehow, he had given her back her otou-san. If it was even possible, she loved him even more now than she had before.

'Arigatou-gosaimasu, Naruto-kun.'

Back at his apartment, Naruto was lying down to go to sleep when he suddenly felt a surge of happiness. Along with this happiness, he saw an image of lavender eyes that were filled with joy. He knew something good had happened to Hinata, and whatever it was he was happy for her. Right before he was completely asleep, he spoke softly, "Sleep well, Hinata-chan," and somehow he knew that she had heard him. With that, he drifted off to a peaceful sleep, eager for the next sunrise and the next chance to see his friend, or rather, the girl he liked.

**A/N:** Well, I hope you liked it. Remember to review, and tell your fanfiction buddies about this cool story. Also, if there are any japanese words you don't know, tell me, and I'll post a revised chapter with the meanings. Until next time.


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